Little Grimm Riding Hood
by ZilverHope
Summary: Her name is Ruby, she was alone in the forest of Forever Fall until her mother and teacher, Salem, found her. She will forever change the Fate of Remnant, this is the story of the Grimm Princess.
1. Chapter 1: Forever Fall

**This part of the A/N was added on the 24th of May which at the time, this fiction stood at 23 chapters long: Hello, so just a quick heads up, this was my first fiction so you might find some very basic grammar mistakes between chapters 3 and 10 especially, worry not however as I'm working on fixing any and all mistakes I can possibly find, so yeah. Please don't leave just because I used to write 'His' As 'He's' or any uncapitalized 'I'. That stuff won't continue for long after chapter 10, and by the way, when I'm done fixing everything this A/N will be deleted.**

 **A/N: What's up, uhh humans? Is that a good way to address you guys? meh, I don't know, being Ambiverted is hard ok!? So how are you? this is my first fanfic. (Ignoring my actual first one which was a complete and utter failure.)**

 **So for a while now I had this idea stuck in my head "What would happen if Salem found a baby Ruby?" So now I will be writing this fanfiction and I'll make it at least 5 chapters and each chapter will contain between 2k words and 5k+ words (Excluding the A/N) So without further blabbering I present to you Little Grimm Riding Hood!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 ** _Chapter 1: Forever Fall_**

* * *

"Rot in hell you monster!" They yelled. "Kill her! Burn her!" They screamed.

Those were the words Salem woke up to this morning, she had gotten used to it by now, it would still be better if she didn't hear those words every time she dreamed of her childhood though.

It wasn't even considered much of a childhood seeing how everyone treated her only based off how she looked like, they thought she was a monster, they treated her like a monster, now she is a monster. It is only logical.

But in days like these, where Salem had little to do, she often would go to the forest of Forever Fall to take her mind off of things, it wasn't that easy to try to destroy all of humankind, after all.

Her favorite place to take long walks was definitely this very place, mostly no Human or Faunus would ever dare to enter this forest, for the amount of Grimm that called it home was far too dangerous, even the most experienced of huntsmen and huntresses would never come to this forest unless the reason is great, but occasionally Salem could find humans who are left for dead for reasons unknown or even children who are left behind by parents who weren't ready for kids.

Salem had the habit of killing anyone she encounters in this forest, but she couldn't ever do it to children, not because she had anything against killing them, no it was far from that, the only problem is that they reminded her of herself when she was disgraced and chased until she found herself alone in the forest, the very same forest she is currently taking a pleasant walk in, that is why, when she did encounter a child in this forest she would just turn around and leave, and if the child is brave enough to follow her, she would turn around and snap her finger, which results in the summoning of a Grimm to frighten the small being away.

This day, however, was going to change everything.

As usual, Salem was walking in the Forest, singing her favorite song softly to entertain herself.

The song went like this.

"The little girl was sobbing in the woods all alone until one man came to her asking, Little girl little girl why are you crying?"

"Leave me alone. Leave me alone. You won't understand so just stop trying."

"Little girl, what's your name? I might be of help, I can help you believe me I am not lying!"

"There are no good guys, there are no good girls, there are only humans and you're all the same, so just leave me alone before you end up dying!"

"I might be a stranger but I will help you, for if you stay here you'll just end up food to that Nevermore that's flying."

"I warned you! I told you to leave me alone! It's too late now you have no chance, and I'll hang you up blood drying."

Salem always grinned when she sang that song, especially the last part, the song reminds her of her first ever human kill, and most probably her most brutal kill even until this very day.

Now she was ready to leave the forest after enjoying a long and calming walk, She had spent enough time by herself, she had to return to her castle and make sure Tyrian didn't cause any trouble between Cinder and watts, she honestly felt like Hazel is the only one out of the four that she did not need to babysit.

As Salem started walking towards where she came from, a weird feeling struck her, a feeling that came completely out of nowhere, a feeling of power, it was vague and almost annoying, she had chills just for concentrating at the direction of which this power was coming from.

She decided to just shake off the feeling and walk away, and that is exactly what she did, but right after she started walking away is when she heard it.

"Waah Waah!" The sound of not only a child but an actual newborn baby crying in the woods, this was a new low... Salem knew humans are horrible, even comparable to herself sometimes. But she never would have expected one to go as far as to leave a newborn baby alone in the most Grimm infected forest in the kingdom of Vale.

Salem wanted to leave, she really did want to leave, but she couldn't, she had to go back and make sure the baby is safe, and it wasn't because of a weak spot in her heart, it's because she believed that every living being deserves some kind of chance, she knows exactly what happens if people aren't given an honest chance, she experienced it before. And who knows what this baby can grow up to be.

"Damn it..." she muttered to herself as she turned around moving towards the direction of which the crying was coming from, strangely enough though, with each step she took towards the voice, the more she felt the weird power she had felt earlier, it was as if it was getting closer by the second, as if the power was following her.

Or maybe Salem was the one following it.

When Salem finally reached the baby that already made her go through so much trouble, she did not need much time to notice that the baby was in fact in someone's arm, someone who is dead.

Salem did not care for who that person was, she only cared for what's in its arms, or to be exact, what's in her arms.

Salem approached the baby, and with each step, the power that she had felt earlier got stronger and clearer, by this point Salem was sure the power had something to do with this child.

And as Salem got even closer, she noticed something, the person who was holding The baby wasn't an ordinary person, not even close, the white cloak that person was wearing only reminded Salem of one person, there was only one candidate to who wore that cloak.

"It can't be." Salem muttered in disbelief. She moved closer to the person in front of her, slowly and cautiously.

It was Summer Rose herself, the silver-eyed warrior that caused nothing but trouble and suffering to Salem for years, the one Warrior to have ever nearly defeated her in battle.

Salem was incredibly satisfied as she raised the hood from above Summer's face, making sure it was actually her, and she wasn't wrong, it was indeed Summer Rose.

Salem now had only one thing to do, she had to Deal with this Child, Summer's Child, Salem wanted nothing more in the world than to kill that child right here right now.

So she did the only sensible thing, she got up and raised her hand, ready to summon a Grimm that would devour the baby, it would probably gulp the whole baby in one bite seeing how small the baby was compared to the common Beowulf.

The baby's crying had gotten louder as soon as it spotted Salem, the Baby was obviously terrified just by the mere sight of Salem.

It was typical for Salem, just another disgusting human that judged her only by her looks, just like how people judged her as a kid.

She was more than ready to just get this over with, she only needed a snap of her finger and the child would be dead in a heartbeat.

Just before snapping her finger though, she noticed something, she definitely knew the source of the power now, it was nothing other than the baby itself, or more specifically, the baby's eyes.

"Y-you have...silver eyes." Salem muttered in complete shock, she had absolutely no idea this trait could be hereditary, or was it even? Was this just a joke from the gods? Was it just destiny? Or just complete and utter luck?

One thing Salem knew for sure now is that she had to kill this child, not only is it the child of Summer Rose, her biggest nemesis, but it also has the same rare trait as her, this was only a bomb waiting to go off, and the sooner the better and safer it is for Salem and her associates.

So brushing off any feeling she had against killing a baby, she snapped her fingers, summoning a huge Ursa, she then commanded the Ursa to rid the world of the baby, and the Ursa had no choice but to comply to its master, so it moved closer and closer to the baby, with every step the Ursa took it seemed to get more and more frightened of the newborn, it had probably already noticed the terrifying silver eyes the baby had, soon though, the Ursa was right in front of the baby, raising its huge claws to slash the baby, killing it before devouring it, it roared with all its might before taking a huge slash at the baby.

"STOP!" The Ursa stopped as if it was a statue, it did not even take a second to respond to its master's wish, the beast had enough time to only barely touch the baby's cheek with its claw, it left a mark, but it wouldn't hurt anyone, even a baby.

Salem motioned at the monster to leave, and the monster had no second thoughts, it ran into the woods, terrified of the silver eyes, even if it was only a weak child that possessed them.

Salem cussed at herself, she had no idea why she couldn't bring herself to kill this thing, but she knew she can't just leave it here, no Grimm would dare approach this child, it would be too scared and intimidated by the eyes that the baby possesses, and if she does leave it then a huntsman was sure to find it, there is no doubt that Qrow Branwen will hear of what happened to his best Friend Summer Rose, and when that happens he is sure to gather the best of huntsmen and search everywhere in Vale, if not all of Remnant.

Then the most brilliant idea struck Salem's Mind.

"Silver Eyes, how...fortunate to me." she said as she knelt down and took hold of the baby, lifting it up and carrying it in her arms, looking straight into its eyes " You, dear-"

Salem realized she did not know if the baby is a male or female, so she checked just to make sure.

It's a girl, thank the gods. was what Salem thought to herself, she was relieved because she did not know if she could deal with a boy as a child, she would probably not be able to stand it, at least a girl is more manageable to her.

"You, dear girl, will be a fine addition to our little...group" Those were the words Salem whispered while looking at the baby's eyes.

The baby had stopped crying as soon as Salem held her, it was surprising to Salem that the more she stared at the baby straight in the Eyes, the more the baby looked as if it is getting comfortable and calm.

Maybe this one wasn't as bad after all, but Sadly for Salem, however, the more she stared at the baby's eyes the more she felt as if a knife is forcing its way into her skull.

...

Salem took her time going back, she liked the feeling of looking at the now sleeping child in her hands, the headache she was getting had gotten progressively weaker since the baby went to sleep. Salem had also never held a child before, she never thought that it was this comforting to hold one.

This would have been much better, of course, if Salem wasn't still getting minor headaches whenever she looked at the baby's eyes, even though it got better than when she was still awake, it still annoyed Salem a tad, but this was surely temporary, and she knew she will get used to it.

While Salem was walking, a huge blush suddenly grew on her face as she came to an immediate halt, she felt the baby's hand, and it was somewhere it wasn't supposed to be.

The blush and humiliation on Salem's face was visible as the sun.

A baby just cupped her.

"Oh my! What are y-" Before she even knew it, she was interrupted by the baby bursting into tears.

"Waah Waah!" The screams made Salem's ears ring.

"Ok ok! Shhh shhh, now, it's okay now, stop crying." The girl slowly stopped crying and calmed down, trying to put her thumb in her mouth, she was so young that she couldn't even move her arm enough to reach her mouth so Salem gently grabbed the baby's hand, guiding her to her mouth and putting her thumb in her mouth.

"It's okay now, dear, we don't want to attract any huntsman now do we?"

Salem giggled by what had just happened, a human had just done something she would most definitely burn anyone for doing, and instead of killing it, she tried to calm it down and comfort it. That was something she never expected to happen, yet it just did.

Salem kept gently humming to the baby until it fell asleep again, then she continued on her way, humming her favorite song instead of singing it, she did not want to risk the baby waking up.

 **Meanwhile in Salem's castle**

"Is that all you've got?" Tyrian Screamed as he adjusted himself back into combat position.

"No, but if I give you all I've got then nothing of you will be left to give to." Said a grinning Cinder.

Tyrian launched himself at her to continue the spar that the two of them were having, while Hazel and Watts where both watching, Watts clearly more entertained.

"It's like watching two kids having a fight over candy, don't you agree?" Watts was with no doubt enjoying every moment of the fight.

While Hazel only muttered. "As long as they don't forget that they are just practicing I don't care."

The fighting sounds soon came to a halt as everyone heard the door to Salem's castle open.

As Salem walked in, she stared at the Human and Faunus who were fighting not a moment ago, she heard the fight, and she wanted to know why they were fighting.

Cinder was quick to respond to Salem's questioning look. "Oh, Salem! We were just practic- wait...what is that?"

The other 3 in the room took a moment before Seeing what Cinder had just seen.

Salem had a newborn in her arms... Salem, out of all people on Remnant, had a baby.

Salem...a baby.

That just doesn't add up.

Tyrian was so shocked he almost forgot to say "Your grace." Before speaking. "Y-your grace, w-what is that?" Was the only thing Tyrian can think of saying.

"That, my dear Tyrian, is the newest addition to our group, and I expect you all to welcome her with open arms, for she is more special than you might ever think."

The Group was speechless, but they didn't take long to understand why Salem brought this child here.

"Your Grace, is that what I think it is?" Said a very impressed and interested Watts.

* * *

 **A/N No.2: So what's up? This chapter is 2.3k words.** **It was challenging to write for me today for the fact that today I had 4 family members over at my place, but I got it done anyway, so yay me!**

 **So the real reason for this second note is that I forgot to say, if this get's enough support I will keep writing way more than just 5 chapters, I will keep it going as long as even a little bit of people like it, and yes don't worry, I can keep going for 50+ chapters if you guys really want it, so yes,that is that.**

 **Stay awesome, and see you with the second chapter, it's coming out in exactly 2 days from now, so if you want to, mayyyyybe you can follow this story? Ok I won't pressure you XD.**

 **Much love! Stay positive! ZilverHope Out!**


	2. Chapter 2: Necessary Changes

**Hello, people of the internet! I am back with another chapter for this fanfiction, To tell you the truth, I really did not expect over a hundred people to read this, so getting 300+ views in less than a day was pretty freaking surprising to me.**

 ***Quick heads up* just to make things clear, I want to remind everyone that this is going on in the time period when Ruby was still a baby, this means that the characters in the story are younger by 15 years, so Cinder is in her late teenage years while Tyrian is probably in his early twenties and Hazel is in his early thirties and Watts is in his mid-thirties.**

 **This chapter was edited by Sm0keyPanda.**

 ** _Little Grimm Riding Hood_**

 ** _Chapter 2: Necessary Changes_**

* * *

The deafening silence in the meeting room was all that Salem needed to know that her allies had still not fully comprehended the fact that she returned with a child, she knew that she had to give them some time. It was no wonder that they would be shocked to find a baby joining in on a plan to destroy mankind.

But, knowing her associates, she knew it was only a matter of time before one of them spoke up... Hopefully not Tyrian. She thought she had seen the worst of him, but she did not dare imagine Tyrian of all people expressing his thoughts on infants, none would be ready to tackle that subject with someone like him.

The good news was that she was confident if anyone were to break the silence, it would be Watts. He had the habit of being the first to ask questions when it came to big changes like this one, and for that fact she was relieved. He was most probably the one with the easiest and most logical questions.

So all she had to do was wait… and wait… and wait some more.

This wasn't going anywhere, Watts was just sitting there, questions in his head and waiting for the precise time to talk while Cinder seemed annoyed by the whole situation, she was smart, though, and did her best to hide it.

Hazel, on the other hand, was clearly distraught with the presence of the baby. He clearly was not accepting the fact that a child was dragged into this mess.

As for Tyrian, he was sitting bored to death in his seat, waiting for anyone to speak or anything to happen.

They had been sitting at the meeting table for over twenty minutes now, and not a single word was heard from any of her allies. Salem knew she had to say something, she was the one that brought the child after all.

"You are all allowed to ask questions, I am sure you have many at the moment." Announced Salem. She was hoping that this might lead to any of them muttering literally any question. She knew it would be better if all the questions they had were answered. After all, the last thing she needed now was her own allies doubting her.

All of them had a look of mixed feelings, and Salem was starting to feel that this meeting was going nowhere, but to her relief, Watts had finally spoken.

"My lady, may I ask about your motives for bringing this girl here?" His question was only answered by Salem's face expression. She looked as if she was still considering the reason herself, but strangely enough, it was clear that she was sure of her decision to bring this girl.

Due to the kind of man Watts was, he couldn't possibly stop asking questions so soon, so he spoke out again. "I am sure you have your reasons, ma'am, but what would be the purpose of bringing a silver-eyed warrior to our operation? She is only considered our enemy, and her main reason for strength only works against our own minions."

"I am no fool, Watts," Salem stated calmly but reassuringly. "I have considered both the dangers and advantages of bringing the child here and believe me, this is a golden opportunity."

"May I ask how?" requested a clearly stressed Hazel. Before she returned, Salem knew that Hazel would be undoubtedly the most resistant to her plans for the child. He was the most forgiving and kind of all the group, and he definitely had a problem with bringing a newborn and innocent soul into this mess; however, Salem knew that he wouldn't dare speak his mind openly. He might have had a soft spot, but he was no fool.

Salem sighed. Hazel knew the answer to his own question, and she realized that, but he wasn't going to stay silent when there was an innocent soul on the line.

"I am sure you all know that a silver-eyed human or faunus is destined for greatness, and that is exactly why we must hang onto her. We will also teach her how to use her gift, for we don't want any accidents to happen if she couldn't control it during a mission. The girl will be of great assistance to us with her fighting abilities; she is destined to be an extraordinary fighter, after all, and if we use that gift to our cause it will strengthen us and weaken our enemies. Not only have we gained an ally, but they have lost one at the same time."

"Oooh, I understand!" added Tyrian. He was also trying to remain extra calm; he had no choice, for his goddess had ordered minimum sounds for the sake of the child sleeping on the back of the terrified Grimm right next to them. It was understandable why the Grimm was scared, there was a silver-eyed warrior literally right on top of it. Then again, were Grimm supposed to show those kinds of emotions, if any at all?

He brushed it off. Bah, these creatures were too complicated anyway!

"Two birds with one stone!" Said the very excited Tyrian. He wanted nothing more than to hear his goddess praise him, what better way to earn that than by showing her his understanding and compliance to her words? They were the law, after all.

"Yes dear Tyrian, that is exactly it."

Tyrian was beyond happy with the words that had just escaped her grace's lips. He cherished the feeling of appreciation from his goddess, he could never get enough of it no matter how hard he tried; in fact, the only thing keeping him from jumping of joy at that moment was Salem's previous order of minimum noise, and that is exactly what he would deliver.

Cinder sighed. "And what are the other possibilities? What if she doesn't turn out to be this great and powerful fighter? Will we just get rid of her?"

Salem was quick to answer, "If that is the case, it would still be far too dangerous to leave her, she might be found and used against us."

Cinder's reply was simple, a bit too simple, If one was to be honest. "Well, we could just kill her then, right?"

Salem could feel her eye twitch at that. So many times she had heard allies say things like this, never did she suddenly find herself repulsed by the idea so quickly, though. What was it in that sentence that bothered her so greatly? She wondered. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"I agree, we still have a lot of time on our hands until she grows. We shouldn't get too hasty, or we might regret it." Said Watts, much to Salem's relief.

Watts' reply also earned an agreeing nod from Hazel. Even though he still wasn't alright with this, he figured it would at least give the baby more of a chance of living.

"Then it would seem that we have all agreed on these terms, but before we conclude this meeting I need something from all of you." Said Salem.

All four of her underlings gave Salem their full attention, waiting for any assignments or tasks.

Salem started with Tyrian. "Tyrian, I need you to buy… toys, for the child. When she grows up enough to be able to walk, we will need something to keep her distracted." Tyrian had never received such a weird task from Salem, but he knew better than to question it.

"As for you Watts, I wish for you to prepare to educate the young one when she comes of age; we will need her to be able to use her wit as well as her talents. I also wish you to find the best form of nutrition to feed the child, make it yourself if you have to." Watts wasn't surprised by such a request, he expected something of the like. He was the one most qualified to teach the child, after all. What he did not expect was having to waste his precious time looking for the perfect formula.

He would never find it, so he would have to make it himself. It would take time to find the ingredients, but he wasn't about to turn down a challenge, so he graciously accepted. "It will be done ma'am."

"As for you, Cinder, I wish for you to get the girl enough clothes to sustain her." Cinder wasn't expecting to be the one buying clothes.

She wasn't happy with such a time-wasting assignment, and so she spoke out. "Why me? Can't Tyrian just buy clothes while getting the toys?"

Salem understood Cinder's frustration, but she had good reason to assign Cinder herself to do this task. "Cinder, you realize you are the only woman here other than me? As you might expect, I am not exactly welcomed in society. So, since you are a woman, you will be buying the clothes for the girl. It is only appropriate."

Salem's argument made sense, Cinder knew, so despite her annoyance she muttered, "Fine, I'll do it."

"Thank you, Cinder." replied Salem before turning her head towards Hazel. "And as for you Hazel, you had a little sister before if I am not mistaken, correct?"

Hazel displayed a grief-stricken face before answering "Yes, I did." Salem nodded and continued, "Hence, you are the most qualified to look over children, so you will be the one looking after the girl. I trust that won't be a problem?"

To her mild surprise, Hazel did not even try to reject the task. She would have expected at least a request for an explanation, but Hazel had his reasons. He knew that if any of the other people in the room were to look after the girl, then she would turn out as bad as them... if not even worse. If he looked after her instead of them, he would at least give her more of a chance to be herself.

"It won't be a problem ma'am." was Hazel's reply.

"Good, it would seem that this meeting is now ov-"

Salem's closing statement was interrupted with a "Waah, waaaaah!" As the girl suddenly woke up and started screaming with full force. The sound of her crying wouldn't have been that annoying if it wasn't so loud, but as it was, everyone in the room -bar Salem- had to cover their ears. They knew that they had to get used to this from now on. It wouldn't be easy, but it would probably be worth it when the child grew to help them with their plans.

Salem was quick to stand up and walk up to the child. Her allies noticed how calm the baby started to get as soon as it could see Salem. It wasn't the type of thing they would expect a baby to do when looking at the so-called Grimm queen, but they were grateful that the crying had stopped, and now they could finally let go of their ears.

"Do you want me to take her?" Offered Hazel. It seemed that he was confident he could deal with the child, but Salem wasn't done. She had one more thing to do with the baby.

"Not now. You are all dismissed. Start with your tasks immediately, the girl will start getting cold and hungry soon." She said as she motioned with her arm in the direction of the door. The four underlings nodded as they left.

She waited for them to depart the room, and as soon as the door closed she held the child. Looking at her face, the first thing she noticed was the small scar on the baby's right cheek. It was very small and could easily be missed, but she already knew it was there, making it easier to spot.

Salem walked towards her seat at the head of the meeting table and sat down, careful to not hit the baby's head on the edge of the seat. As soon as Salem adjusted herself, she felt something rock hard touching her thigh, but it was only probably the table, so she ignored it.

For no exact reason, Salem found it very pleasing to look the child straight in the eyes, even if it gave her a killer headache. She hated to admit it even to herself, but it seemed that she might have taken the slightest liking to this child. Even though Salem had only met her an hour or two ago, the girl had something comforting about her, excluding her silver eyes which were both annoying and pleasing to look at, she didn't bother trying to understand that logic.

Now it was time to make a decision. She knew she had to make it as soon as she held the girl for the first time; she had to give the child a proper name. The question was, what name would she give it…? "Hmm, what would your name be…?" Salem thought aloud until she felt the same hard object touch her thigh again. This couldn't just be the table, there was something on her thigh for sure.

She gently lifted the newborn to see what was under it, but to her surprise there was nothing. Suddenly a small shiny object fell from the small blanket the newborn girl was covered with.

Salem took the object to inspect it, and the shiny object turned out to be a red and square ruby, a beautifully cut one at that. Salem wasn't quite sure how on Remnant this ruby found its way to be in the same blanket as the girl, but she was sure of one thing. She had just thought of a name for the girl.

"Ruby." Salem spoke. The child started screaming excitedly when she heard Salem say that word, it was so sudden that the Queen herself may have to admit to being startled. She watched as the child launched her hands forward and tried to touch Salem's face. "Very well, Ruby it is, then. That's your name from now on." Salem smiled softly. She did not smile often, but for some reason seeing this girl so happy and trying to reach her face had made her heart warm up a bit.

So, with a small giggle, Salem had finally decided. "Well, I guess that's decided now, Ruby."

They were soon interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." Said Salem. The door opened and soon after that, Cinder stepped in the room. "Cinder? Why haven't you departed for your task yet?" Salem questioned.

"I'm going to need to take the girl with me. I don't want to get clothes too small and have to go all the way back to the city."

Salem understood what Cinder meant, the clothes wouldn't ever fit perfectly if Cinder did not try them on the girl first.

"Very well then, you are to take the girl with you. If anyone asks you, she is your little sister, understood?" Salem wanted no mistakes that could lead to Ruby. Qrow Branwen was a skilled and dangerous man, and if any information spilled, he was surely going to be amongst the first to find out. "If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible."

Cinder had already figured that part out. Salem did not need to reassure her of what would happen if the girl went missing; or even worse, if she was found by someone who knew what the silver eyes meant.

Cinder nodded as she gently took hold of the girl. She was lighter than she had expected, but then again Cinder had never held a baby before.

Really, it was no surprise that a lot of things she would anticipate would turn out to be wrong.

The second thing she noticed was that holding a baby wasn't as annoying or hard as she thought it would be. It was actually far from it. This pleased Cinder, seeing how she would be forced to hold the girl for at least a couple of hours.

As Cinder opened the door to head out of the meeting room, Salem added one final thing. "Also, her name is now Ruby. Use it." Earning one final nod from Cinder as she departed the room and closed the door behind her, Salem had nothing left to do for the rest of the evening, so she just decided to rest for a bit. Sighing to herself, Salem leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes.

...

Tyrian was speed-walking in the city, looking for any toy stores for children. He had been walking for over thirty minutes now, and he still had yet to find any. It was extremely annoying to the faunus, not only because he wasn't the most patient of his kind, but also because he desperately wanted to be the first to complete his task. The more satisfied his dear goddess was, the better, and being the first to finish would surely make her more satisfied with his work.

He certainly had no idea why everyone was looking weirdly at him. All that he was doing was walking on the road, and yelling at any stupid driver that nearly ran him over. They should be happy he was only yelling! He could have easily killed them all if he chose to do so.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tyrian had finally found a toy shop. With a sigh of relief, he realized he may still be the first to finish his task! With lightning speed, he jumped over the incoming car and ran into the shop. Soon after he entered the shop, he was impressed with the number of colors and toys in the shop. This was truly a great place to visit!

He decided he simply must come back here when he had free time, but for now, he was determined to concentrate on his task.

So, with excitement, he went to the employee and asked, "Where's the girls' section!?" The employee was so startled that he nearly hit Tyrian with his broom, but thankfully he refrained.

"I-It's right behind you, sir." Tyrian wasted no time as he turned around and ran to the girls' section. He was met by pink and purple-haired dolls everywhere, girly bears and toys all around him. He wasted no time as he grabbed four dolls and random toys and threw them in a bag, and he was about to leave until he saw one thing that immediately caught his attention. There was this pale doll with a long black and purple nightgown, and she reminded him of a very very special someone... her grace Salem herself.

What a coincidence, or maybe it was fate? Who knew? What was important was that she looked a lot like the person he holds dearest!

He couldn't help but take the doll and examine it. Even though he had noticed how she did not fully resemble his goddess, it was still close enough for him to want to keep the doll. That was exactly what he was going to do, but before he put the doll in the bag he found something else that caught his interest. It was a doll of the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Professor Ozpin; the wretched man that dear Salem wanted nothing more than to destroy and torture.

And so, he did the only sensible thing he could do. He grabbed the dolls and sat on the ground. He started playing with the Salem lookalike doll and Ozpin's doll, making them fight each other; Salem obviously had the upper hand in the fight.

It wasn't long before Ozpin started to really lose the fight, and Salem triumphantly kept utterly destroying him. Soon after, Ozpin was launched to the corner of the room which resulted in him being broken to tens of little pieces. Tyrian was very happy that he just helped his goddess triumph against her biggest rival. Oh if only he could do that to Ozpin in real life right at this moment! He'd not hesitate!

His victory was cut short, however, by the angry and rude employee who had just dared to interrupt him in such a special time. "You know you're going to pay for that right?!"

He had no response except for a very unamused and annoyed look coming from Tyrian. "Okay that's it! Pay up for the damage and what's in your bag or I'm calling the VPD!" The employee was furious at this point.

"Go right ahead." Was the surprising response he got from Tyrian.

"I'll teach you to show some damn respect..." Muttered the employee as he locked the door to the shop. This would soon prove to be a very bad life choice, not only because he locked himself in a store with one of the most dangerous maniacs the world could ever witness, but because he was stupid enough to disturb that maniac **AND** threaten him.

The man grabbed his scroll from his pocket and started dialing the Vale Police Department "Hello? VPD? I've got a crazy ma- AAAAAAAAAGH!" He was cut off as he was launched into the wall, dropping his scroll and nearly breaking his back. "What the fu-agh, stop!" Screamed the man after being booted to the face, looking up at a clearly crazed Tyrian. "Look just take whatever you wan-" The man was interrupted by Tyrian lifting him up and pinning him to the wall.

"Listen here, it wasn't very nice of you to interrupt me and threaten me while I was enjoying myself, was it? That's why I am going to return the favor."

At Tyrian's words, the man could only show a terrified face. "Wha-agh, oh my god, oh my god!" The man was interrupted one last time by a sharp pocket knife being stabbed in his palm, pinning his hand to the wall.

Not a second after he realized what had just happened, the man felt Tyrian elbow him straight in the nose, breaking it instantly. The employee could only use his free hand to cover up what remained of his face, especially his eyes. After a second he felt Tyrian's grip on his shoulders release, and he could finally move freely. Well, minus the fact that there was a knife pinning his hand to a wall.

When he finally stopped covering his face and looked around the shop, he only found a broken door and nothing else, the only thing he could do at this point was scream for help and hope it came quickly.

Tyrian, on the other hand, was running in the forest on his way back to Salem's castle with a bag full of toys of all kinds, and his very own Salem lookalike doll.

All he could think of on the way back was how much of a perfect day this was for him. Not only did his goddess bring a new member into their group, but he also succeeded brilliantly in his task from Salem, and he was probably going to be the one to return first, given how fast he had been.

He couldn't have hoped for a better day.

Meanwhile, Watts wasn't exactly having the time of his life. Not only because it was almost impossible to find all the ingredients he needed for the perfect baby formula, but also because he had to do all of this on a busy day. On this day he was supposed to be working on his new invention, a dress made specifically for Cinder. A dress that would allow her to merge dust with herself, and control all kinds of different dust as if she was directly bending them; but knowing Cinder, he expected she would only use fire dust. It was her favorite, after all.

He just had to get this over with and he could get back to it. He had already brought all the ingredients he needed except for one. Problem was, that **one** was the rare black Grimm flower, a very rare flower which had the seeds that contained all that a baby's body needed to develop at a healthy and rapid pace.

By this time, Watts had visited every flower shop he knew in the capital, and not one of them had the flower he needed. Thankfully for him, his next destination proved to be the one that had exactly what he wanted. It was a florist in downtown Vale. As he was walking towards the shop, he noticed that the toy shop right next to it had a broken door and the inside of it looked like a tornado had passed through it; but it was none of his concern, as he only needed the flower. He entered the flower shop, only to be immediately greeted by the employee, "Hello sir! Welcome to Dragon's Flower!"

Watts only gave a slightly annoyed look to the woman at the counter as he replied, "It's Doctor actually. Do you happen to know what happened to the toy shop next door?"

The woman answered cheerfully, "Oh, of course, sir- uhh, Doctor! I heard there was a crazy man with a huge ponytail and brown coat that broke into the shop and broke a couple of shelves. Apparently, he even assaulted the poor employee, must have been horrible for the poor guy."

Watts needed no time to figure out what had happened. A brown cloak, a huge ponytail, and a maniac, it could only mean a recipe for disaster, in other words, Tyrian. There was literally no one else to fit such a description so perfectly. He seriously needed to talk to Tyrian about how discreet he should be in the city, but for the moment, he was only there for the flower.

"Well, that is unfortunate, but I am wondering if you have any Black Grimm Flowers. Even a seed would be enough."

At Watts' request, the employee answered with the same cheerful tone as before, "We have one right here sir, but I am afraid it is not for sale. Could I interest you in any other kind of flowers?"

Watts was annoyed with that answer; he did not go through all this trouble of finding the flower to be told that it wasn't for sale.

Tyrian's way was starting to become more appealing to Watts, but he still had some hope left he could do this without blowing his cover. "I am willing to buy it for any price you put on it, I need this particular flower urgently."

At this, the woman replied, "I am sorry sir, I can't help you with that. I would get fired if I sell this flower."

Watts was fed up with this, he wasted too much time already. He spoke out, "Well, I guess I could buy something else...is that a sea lion flower behind you?"

The woman turned around to make sure she knows what Watts was talking about, and after that, she turned around to face him again. "Yes sir that's-! What th-!" She was barely able to notice the gun pointed at her chest before suddenly losing all control over her body. She just stood there, unable to move even a single muscle.

All she could see from behind the ice surrounding her body was Watts taking the rare flower and telling her, "Don't worry, you'll be able to walk again in a couple of hours. Oh, and you should seriously consider going to the bathroom after you regain control. Trust me, if you don't then you'll regret it." Watts poked her nose then turned and took his leave.

Finding his way back to the castle, Watts made haste to get to his laboratory and start with the creation of the formula. It should've been easy for someone as experienced as him, but even so, he needed to add the perfect amount of powder from the Black Grimm flower's seed; else he might risk poisoning the baby.

After a couple minutes of processing and mixing, he finally had the formula ready. All he needed now was a tiny bit of powder from the flower, so he carefully dropped a little in the bottle. "Perfect!" Shouted Watts proudly.

Now he just had to put the formula bottle in his duplicating machine to create a few dozen other bottles of the formula, just by using the one bottle he had made manually. Putting the bottle in front of a scanner, he waited for the machine to start, and soon after that, the gears in the machine started spinning.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, the machine finally opened to show tens of bottles all containing perfect copies of the formula Watts had created.

Exhausted, Watts grabbed a bottle and strode out of his laboratory, walking around the castle until he finally found Hazel. He handed Hazel the bottle and muttered, "Just feed the damn baby." Then, he left before Hazel could respond. Walking back to his laboratory, he collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes, uttering one more sentence into his pillow.

"I'm never doing this again."

He still had time to Work on Cinder's Dust-using dress, but he didn't give a damn. He just wanted peace and quiet for the rest of the night.

* * *

 **A/N No.2: holy moly, this was fun to write, this chapter is just short of 5k words (Excluding A/N 1 and 2)**

 **Next chapter is coming out in 2 days, or at max three, thanks for the huge support for the first chapter.**

 **Please Review! see you in the next chapter!**

 _ **Much love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	3. Chapter 3: The Silver Eyed Monster

**Hello, and welcome back guys.**

 **Before anything, I just wanted to say thanks for the support on the first 2 chapters, seriously you guys rock!**

 **Anyway, welcome to the (semi) final episode of Baby Ruby. Yes people! in a very short time we will advance the time by 2 or 3 years, making Ruby and official toddler! yaay!**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy the third chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 3: The Silver Eyed Monster**_

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Hazel had no idea why Watts was so mad when he gave him the bottle of formula, but he didn't put his focus on that, what worried Hazel is the fact that the newborn had went with Cinder for clothes shopping. Cinder wasn't the kind of lady who liked shopping, she just liked having clothes enough to sustain her, and if they looked good on her then that's a bonus, So at least Hazel knew that Cinder wouldn't want to spend too much time shopping, she'd just want to get the baby clothes and leave immediately, What he was worried about was that the baby hadn't eaten for hours and that will most probably result in her crying multiple times while with Cinder, he also knew the risk of Cinder having the baby all alone. He had no doubt that she can protect herself and the child but he knew that Cinder is still in her teenage years and might get reckless with the child, but there was nothing he could do about it now, all he could do is just wait and hope for the best.

But while he was doing that, Cinder was walking with a hungry baby is the middle of downtown Vale at night.

Ruby wasn't annoying to Cinder by any means, which was surprising especially to Cinder herself, she expected to be carrying a crying and obnoxious girl, but in reality she was just carrying a baby who was sleeping for most of the trip. It still would have been slightly better though if Cinder didn't have to carry her for all the duration of the trip, she even considered buying a baby cart, but she figured it would be a waste of lien, this was probably the only time she's going to take Ruby out anyway, if there is a next time Ruby will probably be old enough to walk, so she decided to not waste any lien and just carry Ruby.

Cinder has been shopping for two hours now, and she is still yet to buy any actual clothes, the only things she bought for Ruby were two blankets and a small hair tie.

Now was the time to buy actual pajamas for Ruby, so she kept walking on the sidewalk enjoying the chilly late night air, the packed streets were starting to get emptier and quieter, and that's something Cinder appreciated.

Soon enough Cinder found herself in a cheap Kid's store, it was cheap enough to be affordable and expensive enough to assure Cinder that the clothes's quality is good enough to last a year or two.

After browsing for nearly half an hour Cinder had finally decided on the clothes she wanted to try on Ruby.

She had the total of five pajamas that she chose, the first one being a Cyan colored plain one piece pajama, the second was a Yellow pajama with Pink stripes drawn vertically all over it and it was also a one piece, the third one and in Cinder's opinion the best one was a plain Black pajama with a big rose drawn on it, the last two were both Plain pajamas one was light green and the other was Pink.

Cinder took her leave and the shop started to close after she had left, one thing she did notice right away is that the streets were basically empty now except for a few people walking here and there, she certainly liked the fact that the streets were empty, now she could walk freely without being annoyed with any stupid and loud people.

Cinder wasn't completely alone though and she knew it, there were three people following her, all of them were large men from the looks of it, she did not pay much attention to it because she knew that whatever they tried to do will be unsuccessful. So she kept walking, hoping they just lose interest before she had to deal with them, she can't let them follow her for a long while or she'l risk them discovering where Salem's castle is.

Unfortunately for her, they did not lose interest, and she couldn't keep walking like this for any more time because she was getting dangerously close to the Castle she hides in.

Sighing to herself, Cinder stopped walking and turned to face the men "Just turn around and walk away before you regret it." Cinder warned them. Realizing that there is no point in being secretive the men started walking towards her "Well well, seems like the fish has finally caught the bait. Say what, aren't you a little young to be having babies? Maybe I'l have my fun with you tonight." Said the man trying to sound intimidating, what he did not realize is that no matter how hard he would try, the young woman in front of him will not be intimidated at the slightest. Before long though another man Spoke out "Brian we are just here for her money nothing else, don't get carried away."

As the three of them approached, Cinder refused to move one step away from them, showing them that she isn't scared of whatever petty plan they had in mind for her.

The three of them surrounded Cinder each of them pulling out a large metal pipe and starting to swing it around intimidatingly. "Listen sweetheart, just give us all your lien and your scroll too and we'll be on our way, unless you want to do this the hard way." Said one of the men not realizing that soon enough he will regret offering the so called 'Hard way'. "And what would that hard way be if I may ask?" Said cinder with a smug face. "That hard way will consist of us beating the life out of you, if you aren't scared for your health then think for your daughter, do you think you'll be able to carry her if your unconscious?". Cinder's cheeks were as red as flames as she blushed from what the man just said. "She's. Not. My. Daughter." Said a visibly angry Cinder. The men did not look like the patient kind, and one of them clearly was running out of patients faster than the other two as he said. "Look, don't act all feisty with us, scum! Just give us the damn money!"

Cinder has had enough, these three are with no doubts all going to die here tonight. What Cinder said next however confused the three of them even further "Is that your van right there?" She said, pointing with her finger behind one of the men's back. "What? Y-yes, wait what the hell are you talking about? Just give us the money you brat!" Said one of the men while lifting his pipe high in the air, ready to hit Cinder.

Right before hitting her however he heard the sound of glass chattering and an obnoxiously loud car alarm going off, those sounds were only followed by a sharp pain in his chest, which slowly started to flow until it spread everywhere in his body, the man soon found himself unable to move, it was as if he lost all control over his body.

Looking down at his chest, he realized that a huge shard of glass had impaled him from behind.

Falling down on both his knees, he saw Cinder with a sword easily kill both of his partners in crime in the matter of seconds, even with the baby and a bag in one of her hands, it looked as if she did not even put an effort when fighting them.

He knew he was about to die a terrifying death, but he tried with all his might to hang on to dear life, barely being able to realize that there was a grinning Cinder right in front of him, talking to him. "I'm going to hang on to my Lien thank you very much, you on the other hand should just focus on hanging on to your life." Were the last words he heard from the woman before he collapsed on the ground and she disappeared into the dark streets.

Cinder was satisfied with how she treated these miserable excuses of thieves. But now she had a slight regret seeing how Ruby had woken up crying, now she had to deal with the baby's crying all the way back to Salem's domain, it was no wonder that Ruby woke up as soon as Cinder started fighting, now Cinder was regretting her decision to not just kill all of them with her semblance like she killed the first one.

"Shh now Ruby, you know you're going to have to do that sooner or later you know..."

...

After some time, Cinder had finally reached Salem's castle, she was ready to just hand Ruby over to Hazel, she couldn't deal with this god awful crying anymore, it was almost midnight anyway and she wanted to rest.

Opening the door to the castle, Cinder walked in and found herself greeted immediately by Hazel. "What took you so long?" He told her, giving her a slightly irritated look. "Give me a break." She replied, handing over the bag full of clothes and then Ruby afterwards. "Please calm her down, she's unbearable. And I also brought diapers, they're in the bag." Cinder said before walking away.

Hazel had some questions for Cinder, but he remembered the priority, the girl hasn't eaten for who know how long now, he had to feed her before leaving the castle for a white fang meeting.

So, wasting no time, Hazel went on his way to get the bottle of formula Watts had given him earlier this evening from his quarters.

On his way to the room, Hazel tried his best to calm down the crying child but for some reason she just wouldn't stop no matter how hard he tried, he tried humming and shaking her, he even tried singing a calming song but nothing worked. He figured it could just be the hunger, when she eats she should calm down a bit, so he picked up the pace a little and hurried to his quarters.

He still couldn't believe that a newborn was dragged into this mess, he did not like it one bit, the child deserved it's own chance in his opinion but sadly he knew that was never going to happen now that it fell in Salem's Grasp.

Reaching his quarters, Hazel immediately grabbed the formula bottle after closing the door behind him.

Sitting down, he tried feeding the kid, and she did start feeding, but after a few seconds she started wiggling her arms and legs like a maniac. She was annoyed of something.

It did not take Hazel that long to figure out what was annoying her, the smell helped him realize it. "Great..." he said putting his hand on his own face.

He was lucky that Cinder brought diapers even though Salem did not tell her to.

Hazel had no time to waste, he had to leave in minutes to go to Mistral, he had a meeting with the white fang leader Ghira, he simply couldn't be late.

He got up and started changing The girl's diaper, he had a sister but he had never done this before, this thought did not even cross his mind when he was tasked with taking care of the newborn.

"Done." he said, finishing up with the diaper.

Now all he had to do is feed her, and fast. So taking the child and resting it on his lap, he started feeding her, but she just wouldn't close her mouth on the bottle, she was starting to cry every time the bottle got too close to her mouth. Hazel was getting frustrated by this "Eat...Eat...Eat! EAT!" "Waaaaaah waaaaaah" The baby started crying loudly again, he might have gotten a little too loud and aggressive, he did not mean it, he wasn't even angry but he lost control for a moment.

Now Hazel had to deal with a hungry and crying baby that refuses to eat for who knows what reason, there was no time for this, he had to leave for Mistral in minutes. He had no time to do all of this, let alone enough time to wait for the girl to sleep.

he knew he had only one choice now, he must hand over the girl to another member of his team. Even Tyrian if possible, he knew there is no way in dust that Tyrian would dare hurt the child after Salem specifically said to not hurt it.

So with the goal to hand the girl over to someone else, he grabbed the formula bottle and headed out of his quarters. hoping to find anyone who isn't asleep yet.

"Hazel." He froze on the spot hearing the familiar voice calling his name. He wanted to give the baby to anyone before Salem finds him, he did not need anymore time wasted, yet sadly, it seemed like he was found by the person he wanted to find the least.

"Y-yes Ma'am?" He spoke as he turned to face her.

"Something wrong?" She spoke out, clearly knowing that something is wrong, it was definitely a rhetorical question.

"W-well, as you may know, I am supposed to be heading out to Mistral for a Audience with high leader Ghira Belladonna." he answered, and all he got back from Salem was one word "Continue." He knew where this is going, she will probably tell him to finish his current task and that she will arrange a fast way for him to reach Mistral after he is done, but whenever something like that happens he always still arrives late.

"Well I was on my way to find Cinder or Watts so I can give them the child until I return." He said, hoping that Salem agrees and let's him go on the journey. "That won't be necessary." she answered, he knew that this meant he wouldn't go, but then she spoke out again "I'l be the one taking her, you go on your way."

What?

Out of everything Salem could have said, he expected this the least. "Ma'am are you sure?" Hazel questioned if Salem really wanted this. "Yes Hazel, I will be the one taking her, now off you go." She said as she took Ruby from him. Before leaving however, Hazel handed over the formula to Salem "Ma'am if you wouldn't mind, the girl had barely eaten can y-" He was cut short by Salem's answer "I will be taking care of it, now proceed with your journey." Hazel nodded before turning around and leaving, he felt conflicted by leaving the baby with Salem, but it wasn't like he had any choice.

Another weird thing that he noticed is that the baby had stopped crying as soon it could see Salem, it was the second time this happens, he was starting to think the baby takes comfort from seeing Salem.

Salem waited for what's to go out of view before heading for her own quarters.

Opening the door to her gigantic quarters which was the biggest out of all five in the castle, even though the other four were still considered huge, this one was just gigantic.

Sitting down on her bed, Salem rested Ruby on her lap and grabbed the bottle of formula, before feeding her however she looked into the girl's eyes once again, and once again she found it weirdly pleasant to look at them, even the headaches she was getting were starting to hurt less, she was slowly but surely getting used to it.

Salem needed some time before realizing that she was spacing out for over a minute now, just starring into those silver eyes as if they were a unending void.

She ignored her eyes and focused on feeding the kid, so grabbing the water bottle Salem started feeding the baby, which turned out to be completely fine by the baby, even though it wasn't accepting food from Hazel a moment ago, it accepted it from Salem right away.

And after a minute or two the baby has finally finished feeding, Salem did not realize that as she was spacing out again until Ruby started pushing the bottle away from her mouth.

Salem was surprised a bit seeing how she was just spacing out a second ago and suddenly the baby started pushing her hand away, so naturally she dropped a small drop of milk on Ruby's cheek, the right side to be specific, it was also right on top the small but deep cut she received from the Ursa this morning.

Noticing the drop, Salem moved her thumb to wipe it away, and after that she started wondering how Ruby's going to sleep.

"Waaaah waaaaah waaaaah!" Ruby broke out crying of pain all of a sudden followed by a glowing golden light coming from her face, as soon as Salem realized the shining light she focused on Ruby's face, it was shinning from her small scar.

Ruby was crying like her life depended on it, Salem realized she was in a lot of pain for some reason, and she was sure the glowing from the scar had something to do with it.

Another thing she noticed however is Ruby's Right eye, it was also glowing with a golden color. Salem had no idea what was going on.

The glowing had started to fade from both Ruby's scar and her right eye by now, Ruby herself had started to stop crying, she used all of her power to unleash the deafening screams she was just making, but now she seemed to slowly settle down.

Salem had no idea was in dust just happened, she moved her hand close to Ruby's face only to be suddenly shocked with a small silver light. A small light that was coming from her left eye, she had already activated it! But what about her right eye? Salem wondered to herself.

Looking back at the place of the scar Salem could only notice on thing, it was gone. It was like it never existed before.

This could only mean one thing. "Y-You couldn't...how did you activate your aura already?" Salem spoke to herself in shock and disbelief. Lastly, she noticed one thing, Ruby's right eye, something was very...Very different about it.

Salem couldn't even believe her own eyes, Ruby's Right eye had just changed colors from silver to pure black. It was as if she had the left eye of a silver eyed warrior and the right eye covered in a Grimm's skin color.

"Exceptional." Salem muttered to herself, she had no idea what just happened, but she knew one thing, she knew that whatever had just happened is most definitely huge.

* * *

 **Sup again guys, so this chapter turned out to be 3.3k words (excluding A/N)**

 **So I just wanted to say sorry if the writing was a bit rushed in the end, I hope there aren't many things you disliked about this chapter, but to be honest I think this one is the worse out of all 3 thus far, but have no fear! I am confident I'l write better chapters in the future, this was was just a bit hard for me to do, especially because I had no freaking idea how to write a character like Hazel and what to make him act like.**

 **But for now, I hope you enjoyed part 3 of this story, please review as it helps a ton.**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	4. Chapter 4: What Happens Next?

**Hey! What's up? Welcome back!**

 **Enough greeting now and let's get on with it! But first I wanted to apologize for delaying this so much, I have school and it is taking a lot of my time, but thankfully i dealt with a lot of other things so i should have more time to write for you guys!**

 **So without further ado enjoy the fourth chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 4: What happens next?**_

* * *

It has been roughly Six Months since Ruby was found by Salem in the Forever Fall Forest and it was a rough six months for the group to say the least.

Cinder had to deal with changing Ruby's diaper and clothes while Hazel was responsible of feeding her and putting her to sleep, Watts on the other hand was the one monitoring her growth and health and according to him she was growing exceptionally fast and the main reason for that was he's special formula.

Tyrian was the one least bothered by the child, in fact he might be more content than bothered seeing how there is now someone who actually likes having fun from time to time, he liked the fact that little Ruby would always laugh whenever he does tricks with he's tail. She almost like having fun as much as him!

Salem though had huge problems with the kid, and not because she hated it or even disliked it a little, it was in fact the exact opposite. Salem knew she was taking a liking to this baby and she hated it, she couldn't afford to be emotional when working with her allies. It would cause chaos and that chaos would develop to become a serious problem to the group of villains.

She hated to admit it, but that child wasn't just here for being useful anymore, it's here because Salem wanted it to be here, being a half silver eyed warrior was only a bonus by now.

Since what had happened to Ruby's right silver eye six months ago, the Grimm in Salem's domain had started getting less and less scared of Ruby, if Watts's theory is correct the Grimm aren't actually getting used to Ruby's silver eye, it was the Grimm eye that she had that made the Grimm not only unhostile Towards her, it was very rare but on some occasions a Grimm could actually mistake her for being another Grimm.

Ruby has been a very difficult thing for the group to adjust to, but they all realize how important she is now, seeing how she had a silver eye and according to watts, an actual Grimm eye, it was something that had probably never happened in the history of all of remnant, which makes Ruby by far one of the most Precious weapons Salem has, simply because of how unpredictable the young girl is.

Tyrian has also managed to "Convince" an architect to design a Room for ruby a few months ago before the architect mysteriously disappeared, she couldn't keep sleeping with them forever now can she? Now Ruby had a small room with a baby bed, a clothes changing table, a small nightstand and a box full of toys which is yet to be touched.

According to Watts the now seven months old Ruby had in fact activated her aura the day she lost one of her silver eyes, which was almost unbelievable to everyone.

Now all of team WTCH had to agree on taking care of the child from time to time, seeing how Hazel was almost always out of Salem's castle at least once or twice a week because of he's white fang errands. Today Cinder was the one watching little Ruby. She did not mind taking care of Ruby seeing how it wasn't all that hard anymore, she just had to feed her and shake her until she sleeps, sometime if she is unlucky she would have to change her diaper but that is as hard as it gets.

Saying that however...there was one day she absolutely hated, because it caused so much trouble for her, and that day was Bath day.

Not only did she have to deal with the disgust of washing over another human,which undoubtedly damaged Cinder's pride. She also had to deal with the fact that there are two different Ruby's during bath time.

The first one was the overly excited Ruby, waving her hands and legs around excitedly like her life depended on it, screaming of joy whenever she sees the bath full of bubbley water. It wouldn't have been annoying to Cinder if it wasn't making everything ten times harder for her, she could never make Ruby sit still, she would always splash the water with her feet and hands making it ten times harder for Cinder to clean her properly.

The second one was the terrified Ruby, for some reason Ruby could sometimes forget how fun it is to take baths. And when that happens she turns into a screaming maniac who is suddenly scared of any contact with water. It was basically the same as Excited Ruby, the difference is that she would be screaming and splashing even more water all over Cinder and the floor.

Sadly for Cinder, today was in fact Bath day.

"Are you sure you won't be late Hazel?" Cinder asked whilst taking Ruby from he's hands. "Yes, we are just dealing with one huntsman, it won't take long." He answered assuring her that when he is back she wouldn't have to take care of Ruby for the rest of the day. "Wait until she wakes up and then start with this list" He handed her a small paper before walking away and exiting the room followed by Tyrian and Watts behind him. Cinder could only sigh when she heard Tyrian mutter something when he closed the door behind him, knowing Tyrian it was probably him just trying to annoy Cinder before leaving, so brushing it off she went on her way to Ruby's room.

After carefully lying the sleeping Ruby on her bed, Cinder made her way to the bathroom across Ruby's room, she started to fill the bathtub with warm water and shampoo, she waited for about five minutes for the bath to fill up, making sure that the water will only be enough to cover Ruby's torso, she closed the water before making her way back to Ruby's room.

*Buzz Buzz* *Buzz Buzz*

Cinder's scroll started ringing, she answered the scroll only to be immediately met with sounds of clashing and gunfire "Cinder! We've run into a trap! The Branwen twins are here and who knows how many more huntsmen, We need your help and fast!" Cinder couldn't even utter a word before Watts closed the line on her.

"God damn it." Cinder muttered to herself, she had Ruby to worry about and now they want her to just leave her and come help them? Watts did not even bother tell her where they were, she didn't know how he expected her to find them.

"Cinder, is something the matter?" Salem suddenly spoke. Cinder nearly jumped from sudden voice coming from behind her, she didn't know how Salem always seemed to be present when something is wrong. "Watts and the others ran into an ambush, He wants my help, he also said something about the Branwens but i couldn't make out what he said." Cinder answered. She hoped that Salem would offer her a way to help, anything at this point would be helpful because she can't take Ruby with her and in the same time she can't just leave her for who knows how long. Thankfully that is exactly what Salem did. "You can leave the child with me, go help them now and if you can somehow eliminate one of the branwens then make it your first priority." Cinder replied with a simple nod before handing Salem the small paper Hazel gave her earlier. "Ruby is in her room and the bath is ready, wait for her to wake up first." Cinder said as she quickly ran towards the door and left the castle in a hurry.

Salem was left in shock at what Cinder just told her. "Bath?" she mumbled to herself, she normally did not mind to spend time with little Ruby, but actually giving her a bath? simply absurd! Not only that but also a full list of things to do? Salem was simply speechless.

Wondering what else is on the list Salem started reading it.

1) Give Ruby a bath. 2)Feed her half a bottle of formula 3) Stay with her until she falls asleep.

Salem herself did not understand why she would consider doing such things, but for some reason she felt obliged to do all of them.

Not a minute later, she found herself in Ruby's room, just standing still at the soon-to-be awake Ruby. What was so comforting about this girl? Is a question Salem asked herself nearly every time she found herself alone with the little girl, She did not have an answer to that question and to be honest she didn't want an answer, the girl was just that...comforting.

Soon Ruby's eyes had opened up, revealing the one silver eye and one grimm eye the girl possesses, luckily for Salem the headaches she used to get from looking into Ruby's eyes had gotten less since she developed the grimm eye she had, Which was good because Salem found pleasure in looking at the girl's eyes.

Salem slowly walked towards Ruby, only to be met with an adorably cute smile as soon as Ruby spotted her. As soon as she moved her hands towards her, the little girl hurled her hands towards Salem, excited to get out of the bed.

As she took hold of the little one, Salem couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape her lips. "Alright settle down, don't get too excited." Salem said with a playful tone to her voice as she walked towards the small bathroom made specifically for Ruby.

As soon as she entered the bathroom she was startled with the joyous scream coming from Ruby. It was safe to say that Ruby was excited when she saw the bubbley bathtub of unending fun!

Salem started taking off Ruby's small pink pajama, it was harder than expected mainly because Ruby was waving her hands and legs everywhere because of excitement.

After some struggling with Ruby's clothes, Salem finally had them off the girl, and now she started walking towards the bathtub, Ruby was clearly getting more and more excited with each step Salem took towards the water. Finally however Ruby found herself sitting in warm water full of fun and bubbles! The water was just enough to cover Ruby's knee so there was no need for Salem to keep hold of the girl. Ruby couldn't help but splash water everywhere with extreme happiness and joyous laughing.

Salem on the other hand was a bit annoyed, it was hard for her to clean Ruby properly with all the moving going about. She had to admit it though, Ruby was really cute when she's all happy and excited.

*Splash* Salem was met by water splashing right onto her face, only followed by what sounded like mischievous baby laughing. "Very funny..." Salem said after wiping the water from her face. "Now please beha-" *Splash* Salem was met with a second splash in the face. "Ok, now you are going to get it!" Salem taunted with a playful tone before splashing back at Ruby which resulted in a small battle between the two of them, Ruby clearly having much more fun with Salem than the boring Cinder.

It was a rare instant where Salem was actually having fun, she had a small splashing battle with little Ruby. It was clear that this bath wasn't going to be over anytime soon, and that was something that Salem herself did not mind at all since sometimes even she needs to remember how to have fun.

...

...

Cinder was running in the middle of the woods, desperate to find any clue that can link her to Watts and the others, Sadly it was starting to look like there was no possible way to find them.

*Buzz*

Cinder immediately opened her scroll only to find one new message from Watts saying "It was a trap! go back now!"

That only raised more questions than answers in Cinder's head. "Wha-" *BANG* Cinder's heart skipped a beat as a gunshot suddenly hit her scroll out of her hand. Cinder was quick to react though, doing a backflip in the air while pulling her dual swords in the same time, Cinder hid behind a tree for cover.

"I know you're behind that tree..." someone said while knocking gently on the tree from the other side. Cinder recognized the sound almost as soon as she heard it.

So realizing there was no point in hiding, Cinder moved from behind the tree, careful to not get too close to the person who was just shooting at her. "Well well, i'l be damned...Qrow Branwen himself" She said looking at him. "Don't flatter yourself, tell me where she is." Was the reply Qrow gave. "Where is who?" she asked, still careful to not let her guard down around such a dangerous huntsman. She knew that if anyone was worthy enough to be called a true huntsman, it would be Qrow. "Listen here, i don't have time for games! tell me where Summer is right now before i turn you inside out." Qrow threatened. Cinder gave him a smirk, she knew that she had a golden opportunity to drive Qrow into being Reckless. "Oh, Summer, so that is what this is about huh?" Qrow had no time for these games, he did not know for how much time could Raven and the other huntsmen distract Cinder's team. "Don't waste my time, Tell me what i want to know and i will go easy on you." Cinder answered with a noticeable chuckle. "Fine, i guess i have no choice huh? Well if you really want to know, your dear friend...well let's just say she isn't with us anymore" Qrow did not understand at first "What does tha-" He paused before finishing the sentence, he realized what Cinder meant. He's suffering did not end there however. "And let me tell you dear Qrow, her departure was not peaceful, and neither will be yours" she said. "You're lying!" He said in disbelief. "Oh did i drive you mad birdie? sorry that i told you the truth about your so called friend, maybe if you where there she would have survived." She said with the purpose of driving him mad, and it was working "SHUT U-"

Qrow had a split second to react to Cinder as she lunged herself forward, swords ready to tear him apart. He quickly lifted he's sword blocking the stab that was aimed at he's chest, the impact making a big shockwave that resulted in the rustle of the leaves and trees all around them.

Cinder was not expecting this incredibly fast reaction from the lone huntsman, she might have just forced herself into a fight she can't win.

...

...

Salem's bath with Ruby was fun to say the least, the queen of Grimm herself couldn't deny it. But like all good things, it has come to an end.

It wouldn't have been that fun to Salem if she had known that Ruby might have had a small "Accident" in the water. But that's a story for another day.

Right now Salem was finishing up dressing little Ruby with her favorite pajama, The black one with red a rose symbol. Salem did not like it because of anything except for the fact that it reminds her that not only did she gain a very powerful ally, but she stole that ally from one of her worst enemies. Summer Rose herself.

Now that Ruby is all dressed up, Salem finished the first task left on the note, she now had only one thing left to do before Putting Ruby to sleep. So she pulled out the note and started reading.

2) Feed her half a bottle of formula (Formula is in her Room on the nightstand next to the baby bed)

After reading that, Salem automatically turned to look at the nightstand, and sure enough there was a bottle of formula right on top of it. So she carried Ruby to the bottle Grabbing it and sitting down on the small chair next to the nightstand. Then she started to adjust Ruby so her head would be lifted by Salem's Arm, leaving her other arm free to feed the girl.

She then started to feed the little girl, and Ruby was with no doubts very hungry after all the joyous screaming and laughing that happened earlier. She was hungry and exhausted.

Salem was starting to get really tired, she needed rest and she normally would be resting at this time of night But she decided to spend the last minutes with Ruby while looking into her beautiful eyes again.

There was no way to deny that Salem absolutely loved Ruby's Eyes, especially since she turned one of them into a so called Grimm eye.

*PSHH* was the sound Salem suddenly heard out of nowhere. It was followed immediately by a big Red flash coming from Ruby's Grimm Eye and a white flash coming from her Silver eye.

Then nothing happened.

Salem was surprised that this was all that happened, she was sure that something was about to happen, good or bad she was prepared, but ultimately she was prepared for nothing.

The only thing Salem could notice is a very tiny red spot on Ruby's Grimm eye. "What have you done child?" she wondered.

She only realized that she had stopped Feeding Ruby when she saw her reaching for the formula bottle. So she moved her hand closer to Ruby only for it to be immediately grabbed by Ruby's small hands. Ruby pulled Salem's hands closer so she can put the bottle in her mouth and start eating again.

She then started to Normally eat again like nothing had happened. Salem was still left questioning what had happened.

*PCHOW* Salem heard that sound all of a sudden before being splashed in the face with formula milk.

"Waaaah waaaaah" Ruby started crying, Salem looked at Ruby to find that the top of the Formula bottle has been completely cut off and is stuck in Ruby's small lone tooth.

Salem moved her hand and took out the small plastic piece stuck in Ruby's tooth to inspect it. She was shocked to see an absolutely huge bite mark on the piece, it was so huge it wasn't even comparable to Ruby's tooth.

She quickly looked at Ruby's mouth only to see the normal tooth, no big teeth or anything of the like. Salem was left wondering how can such a small tooth make a mark so big.

And surprisingly the red spot on Ruby's eye was now gone.

I am saying surprisingly even though in truth Salem was no longer surprised by Ruby, she had basically accepted the fact that at least once a month something weird would happen. But this time it was different, she could only sometimes see Ruby's aura flashing, or even her Grimm eye twitching, but she never expected the eye to flash just like a normal silver eye, the only difference is that it was a red flash not a sliver one.

Ruby was still crying and Salem started to calm her down "Hshh child, it's okay, you're okay now, it was just an accident."

Salem needed to brush this off and take care of Ruby, she could discuss this with Watts when he returns, but for now she was going to take care of Ruby.

She needed to change her pajama seeing how it was now covered in milk from the top to the bottom.

...

...

"Huff" Cinder was panting, she was tired from fighting Qrow, he was way more skilled than what she had anticipated. And what bothered her the most is that she though he wasn't even going with he's full strength. He definitely did not want her dead.

"Had enough yet?" He said while resting he's sword on he's shoulder. "just give up or i will drag you to prison myself." he added. "Shut up!" Cinder replied with anger and frustration.

"As you wish." he said before lunging towards her with he's sword high in the air, she was lucky to raise her swords in the air right before he reached her. Realizing she had an opening Cinder quickly pulled back her swords and slashed from the right side, aiming for he's torso area. She was met by he's sword standing vertically in her way. The clash between the two weapons staggered Cinder which gave Qrow an opening. He kicked her hard in the face knocking her down on the ground as she rolled in the dirt multiple times because of the huge power that followed the kick.

As she quickly started to get up she found herself barely able to stand as her face was met by another punch from Qrow. Making her fall on her knee as her aura shattered completely.

"You are making this harder on yourself kiddo." He said while standing right in front of her, she was barely able to lift her head to see he's face. She knew she had no hope of beating him, she was barely able to hit him once or twice.

It seemed like everything was over for Cinder.

"QROW!" came a voice from the air only followed by a woman wearing a black and red outfit dropping from the air. "I got her Raven we are taking her to jail" he said. But the answer he got from Raven wasn't what he was expecting. "No brother we need to go now! the huntsmen are down, that Hazel man is a walking army! we need to go now! he is going to be here any second." Qrow had little time to process before answering "No! i won't run away, this bitch knows where Summer is."

"BRANWEEEEEN!" came a voice from the woods. Qrow was startled as he asked "What the hell was that?!" Raven answered "That's him, he's out of control and he still has two others to watch he's back, now move your ass and let's get out of here or these huntsmen who died would have died for nothing!" She earned a sigh from her brother followed by a nod before they both ran disappearing into the woods.

Cinder was left alone on her knees, unable to move. She collapsed on her stomach soon and she was barely able to see three sets of feet running towards her before drifting into nothingness.

...

...

Salem finally got little Ruby to sleep, it was a tough night for Salem to say the least, Salem was Exhausted by the time Ruby closed her eyes, she could barely muster up enough strength to get off the chair and walk out of the room.

Heading for her Quarters Salem took haste in opening the door and immediately collapsing on her bed, she did not even changing her clothes.

The last thing she thought about was how weird this day was.

First she had to give the little girl a bath, and in the same time she actually played with the girl. Then the girl's eyes flash and soon after she somehow manages to bite off the tip of a plastic bottle.

Salem's life might have gotten a bit harder since Ruby came to her life, but she was more than willing to face that challenge.

She couldn't wait to see what this girl will grow up to do.

* * *

 **Finally! i don't have any idea why but it took me so long to actually write this chapter!**

 **It is also 4k words (Excluding A/N 1 and 2)**

 **The good news is that this was the final chapter of baby Ruby! yay! next up we will get the adorable yet dangerous Toddler Ruby!**

 **With that said i want to apologize again for taking so long to update the story! i promise it won't happen again, oh an sorry if the writing is a bit rushed at the end, i just wanted to kind of get over with this chapter since i had nothing else to talk about :P**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! please Review and follow/favorite if you liked it!**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	5. Chapter 5: New Friends

**Heya! what's up guys? you know i have noticed that every time i start with the A/N i say "What's up" and none of you tells me whats up... you're mean.**

 **Random person: The ceiling!**

 **Me: hahahah very funny (BANG) anyone else?**

 **anyyyway, welcome back to the 5th chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood, so i am gonna say it now. Sorry in advance if this was a bit short, but i was REALLY busy while writing this and i had to take multiple breaks. i was originally gonna include more in it, but that would have taken an extra 2/3 hours so i decided to split it into this part and the next part (hopefully coming out in 2/3 days)**

 **anyway this chapter is a little more than 3.1K words. so i hope you enjoy.**

 ***Last thing i promise* Surprise competition!**

 **In celebration of this story having over 100 followers (and valentine's day) we are hosting an official valentine's day competition. If you want to participate then read the second Author note after the chapter is over, but for not enjoy the 5th chapter!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 5:New Friends**_

* * *

"Ruby just relax will you, i promise i won't brush it too hard" Cinder pleaded from Ruby. "Mwaah!" Cinder couldn't figure out what that reply meant, but she was sure it was some sort of complaint. Cinder sighed to herself, she has been trying to get Ruby to sit still for nearly an hour now but Ruby just wouldn't listen.

Cinder had no choice but to use her ultimate strategy against Ruby. It was a technique she would have liked to discover sooner, but now she knew that as long as Ruby could imitate her in any way she would agree to almost anything "Don't you want to have beautiful hair like me? Hmm?" Cinder said. Ruby refused to look Cinder in the face as she displayed her displeasure with a loud moan "Mhhhhmph!" Cinder knew she was starting to get the better of Ruby, she had done this tens of times now.

"Come on Ruby, I know you want to." Cinder said with an amused tone. The only reply Ruby gave was her shaking her head vigorously, still refusing to look at Cinder. "Ok young lady! this is your last chance, come here and sit still or you'l pay!" Cinder taunted Ruby. Surprisingly Ruby still did not give in, she was a brave young girl, and Cinder admired that But now she was going to pay for her rebellious behavior. "Alright princess! i'm counting to three, if you don't come here right now you are going to pay." Cinder warned Ruby one final time before she started counting. "One..." Ruby was still standing in the corner of the room, staring at the wall refusing to turn to see Cinder. "Two..." Still no response from Ruby. "Two and a half."

Because of Ruby's stubbornness Cinder had to give up on her. "Three!" Cinder said as she dashed towards the girl, grabbing her in less than a second, the poor toddler had no time to react and suddenly she found herself on the bed, both her arms pinned by her Evil friend's Knees.

"You brought this on yourself, prepare to suffer!" Cinder said dramatically as she raised her hand high in the air, forming a small fireball.

Ruby was terrified, this was it! She was about to depart this world and never return, She knew the pain that was going to be inflected upon her in a few moments, she had experienced it before, this time however she knew was going to be the worst, since Cinder promised that the next time she would do this, it would be worse than all the last times combined!

Cinder waited for the scared Ruby to close her eyes in horror before quickly extinguishing the flame in her hand and putting both her hands under Ruby's shirt.

"Bahahahahahahahahahaha" Ruby burst out laughing like a maniac, this was absolutely horrible, Cinder was torturing her using her wicked witch fingers! "Die imbecile!" Cinder said as she kept torturing the two and a half year old girl.

Ruby couldn't take it! she was being tortured like never before! She felt every touch of Cinder's nails as if they were Grimm bites, the only difference is that this was worse, this feeling was the feeling of sorrow and chaos on her skin, at least a bite would only inflict pain, this however was just pure humiliation!

"Had enough yet?!" Cinder asked proudly as she kept tickling the young and helpless girl in front of her. Surprisingly enough though Ruby did not give up, she did not even consider to surrender to the evil Cinder! Even though she was barely able to breath.

Cinder wasn't stupid though, she made sure to pause for a moment or two before continuing to tickle torture the girl in front of her, if she did not pause at all Ruby wouldn't be able to breath.

Cinder was surprised when all of a sudden Ruby vanished and turned into small rose pedals. "Ahh lame! Even your semblance won't save you from me!" Cinder said as she got up from the bed and looked around for a trace of Ruby.

"Come on, i promise i'l be gentle" Cinder said with a playful tone. Ruby was young but not stupid, she has been through this time and time again, Cinder was obviously lying, as soon as Ruby would show herself Cinder would show no mercy to her.

And that is why Ruby came up with a brilliant plan. As she was hiding behind the bed, she peeked out to make sure Cinder wasn't looking in her direction. when she was peeking she saw Cinder looking for her behind the wardrobe, so she took the chance to slowly climb up the bed, making sure to not make any sound, then she adjusted herself into a proper running position.

*WHOOSH* Was the sound Cinder heard all of a sudden before finding Ruby on her back and playing with her hair.

Ruby's semblance was truly useful in situations like this Cinder thought to herself before reaching her hands to her back, grabbing Ruby and lifting her.

Cinder was now standing in the room, a victorious and proud Ruby in her hands. Cinder couldn't keep the smile from showing, Ruby was just too adorable when she was happy. "Will you please let me brush your hair now?" Cinder asked Ruby.

"Mmmhm!" Followed by a nod was all that Cinder needed to know that Ruby is saying Yes. She had to learn how to communicate with Ruby this way Since Ruby was still unable to talk. Even though Watts said it was normal for some kids to not speak for a couple of years after being born, he gave them an example of the Atlesian scientist names Shalbert Breinsein, A man who never uttered a word until he was five years old, and a personal inspiration to Watts.

Cinder walked towards the chair with Ruby on her hands, She then set her down on the chair and grabbed the Brush and started doing Ruby's hair. She did not care if Ruby had just won their small friendly competition just now, now she had finally got her to sit still so she can do her hair.

...

...

"Come on Hazel! I want to ride the roller coaster next!" Gretchen yelled at Hazel, he was barely able to keep up with her running around all the amusement park. "Gretchen wait up." He yelled back while waving at her, Hazel has been running around after his little sister all day long, his legs felt like a giant Ursa had just bit both of them.

"Come on old man! Can't a hero like you keep up with a young future hero?" She joked around. "Hey! you know i'm not old" He said after finally catching up to her. "Whatever you say grandpa, let's go!" She said before she started running again. Hazel was doing he's best to keep up, but he could barely see her amongst the crowds of people all around the park, For some reason however she suddenly switched directions and entered a small alley between two attraction buildings.

"Why is she going there" Hazel mumbled to himself, He thought maybe she saw something interesting and he decided to check it out, so he went ahead and follow her.

Making he's way past the crowd of people, he finally reached the small and desolated alley. He noticed he's sister standing at the near end of the alley with her back turned to him.

He slowly walked close to his sister. "Gretchen what's going on? Is something wrong?" He asked while getting closer. "Oh brother...Everything is wrong" She answered with a dark tone to her voice. "What do you mean?" He questioned before reaching he's hand to her shoulder.

As soon as he touched her, she turned around to Reveal a terrifying bloodied face and a missing eye. "WHAT?" Hazel was shocked to the point where he tripped down on he's own foot while backing away.

"Why didn't you save me brother?" She asked while stepping closer to him. "Y-you wanted to be a huntress! I-I tried to stop you but you didn't listen to me!" Hazel answered while continuing to back away. "Oh brother how foolish of you, you let a teenager decide to become a martyr." She said. "What? No! I didn't do that!" He claimed. "Yes you did brother, and you also let that man Ozpin manipulate me, didn't you?" She kept taking steps closer with each second that passed by. "I would never do that!" Hazel claimed.

Suddenly, Hazel found he's back against a wall, a wall that never existed in the first place. "What the hell?" He said before turning back around to see he's sister's face inches away from he's own. "Now brother, why don't you come along with me? i'm getting bored of being alone all the time." She said before revealing a dagger that was hidden in her sleeve.

...

...

"Come on mister Hazel wake up already, this is pitiful" "AGH!" Hazel lunged himself forward as soon as he opened he's eyes. It was all a dream... He was only in truth alone in the room with watts in front of his bed. "Holy dust what is wrong with you." Asked Watts. "Just a bad dream...What is it?" Hazel answered. "Did you forget already? Today is sunday, you are supposed to take Ruby for a walk in the woods." Watts said as he stepped aside, revealing that Ruby was standing behind him this whole time. "Cinder already got her ready for the trip, she'l be waiting for you outside.

She waved at Hazel cheerfully before hazel spoke again. "What's the point in taking her to the forest again?" He wondered. "Don't ask me, Salem was the one saying something about being ready for the world or such. Now will you please get dressed? I have things to do other than to babysit this kid." Watts said as he walked out of the room with Ruby behind him.

Hazel took a moment to get his head straight, that dream was horrible and it is likely to affect his whole day.

But wasting no time, he got up from the bed and started to put on he's clothes.

After getting dressed he made sure to grab some dust before heading out, just to make sure he and Ruby would be completely safe. He would only merge the dust with himself if he absolutely needs to, he had a semblance that made him able to fuse dust with himself without any negative effects with he's body, the only problem is that it caused most of he's aura to deplete to a level that makes it basically depleted,he was training every week so he can improve he's semblance, soon he'l be able to merge dust with himself without depleting he's aura, but that time was long away.

He headed out of the room only to see Cinder talking to Ruby. "Ok Ruby Hazel is here, make sure you don't leave he's side at all. The Grimm in the forest are not as nice as the ones here, remember that. And if for some reason you get lost remember to use your semblance and never stop moving, You can find us with your eye, the one you have a connection to Salem with, just follow your instinct and you'l be here in no time, got it?" It was the same lecture Cinder would always give Ruby before she would head out, the ' Use your semblance and eye Yada yada yada.' Ruby responded with a nod before running towards Hazel and grabbing he's hand.

Her small and smooth hand always reminded him of a certain someone, someone that was dear to him. The way she held he's hand was also a reminder of that person. He could already feel the excitement coming from Ruby as he started walking with her towards the castle Exit. Before leaving he told Cinder "We'l be back before evening."

...

...

"So Ruby, did you enjoy your time with Cinder this morning?" Hazel said, he and Ruby were walking alone in the woods with nothing around them but trees and nature, They barely ever talked, and the reason for that was probably because Ruby couldn't talk yet, but he still tried to have any kind of interactions with her. "Uhuh!" Was her reply. "Good, and do you like walking in the woods here?" Hazel had no idea what he was talking about, but he was trying to get any kind of interaction between him and the girl. Ruby replied with a simple yet cheerful nod.

"So what do you want to do?" He asked. Ruby paused for a moment before suddenly jumping in place as if an idea had just struck her.

She ran towards a tree, and put her hands in front of her to cover her eyes. She then turned back to Hazel and started lifting her fingers one by one as if she was counting.

Hazel understood what she wanted, she wanted to play her favorite game. "You want to play hide and seek?" He asked. Ruby started jumping in place with excitement while nodding vigorously. "Ok, fine you count to 10 and i'l hide." He said while looking around to make sure the coast was clear. Ruby quickly ran towards the tree and started counting in her head, she could barely count to five, but she learned that if she counted to five two times that would mean she counted to ten.

Hazel quickly hid behind a huge boulder, making sure he still had Ruby in he's sight just in case anything happened.

After a few seconds Ruby took her hands of her eyes and started looking around, she wouldn't use her semblance because she knew that would be cheating. Hazel just waited while making sure Ruby did not wander off too far from where he was.

*WOOSH!* Ruby turned into a pile of rose pedals and disappeared with no warnings whatsoever. "NO!" Hazel shouted before quickly running to where Ruby once stood. "Ruby! Come here, where are you!"

This was bad, no scratch that. This was absolutely horrible! He had no idea why Ruby would use her semblance, they always told her to not use it if she is playing this game.

He had no idea what to do, there was no possible way to keep up with Ruby. "Ruuub-" *WOOSH!*

Suddenly he found something pulling he's pants from behind, he turned around only to see Ruby with a mischievous smile on her face.

This smart devil... She scared him so he would expose where he was, this girl was truly a genius for her age. "You brat, you fooled me." Hazel said as he knelt down to check if Ruby had any scratches on her. Her reply was simple, she just sticked her tongue out at Hazel.

"Don't do that again, your lucky it was me this time, next time you'l get in trouble if you do this." Hazel warned her while checking her shoes to see if anything was stuck on them.

"Do you understand Ruby?" He said while expecting her to simply answer back with her favorite method of response, a simple 'Mhmm'

But there was no response.

He looked at Ruby's face only to notice her looking straight above him with a worried expression on her face. He then looked down to notice a shadow, not he's or Ruby's but something else.

He turned around to see a gigantic Ursa, nearly the size of a bus.

The Ursa waited for no time as it slashed at Hazel with full force, sending him to roll on the ground about ten feet away.

Hazel took a moment to get he's head straight only to see the Ursa standing in front of the terrified Ruby, readying a stance of attack. The child was crying and screaming, so shocked and unable to move from her place because of how scared she was of the monster in front of her.

Hazel couldn't believe it...No not again! this won't happen again! He won't lose someone else that relied on him!

He quickly got up and grabbed the Dust crystals in his pocket, immediately he merged them with he's own body and felt the enormous amount of energy flowing through he's veins.

He knew he had no aura to protect him now, but he didn't give a damn. He wasn't going to let that Ursa take Ruby. He knew that one slash from that Ursa could end up killing him, but it wasn't like he had any choice.

Hazel launched himself forwards with all of his force concentrated on he's hand, the Ursa had little time to react as it was suddenly hit straight in the skull with a force stronger than what any Grimm could ever withstand.

The punch was so strong in fact that the Ursa had started to disperse before even being pushed an inch from the punch.

Hazel landed on the ground and immediately started running towards the shaking Ruby, she was absolutely terrified as she was sitting on the ground hugging her own knees.

"Ruby are you ok? Did you get hurt?" Hazel was asked with concern. She took a moment before replying with a very small shake of her head.

He knelt down in front of her and started to make sure that Ruby had no injuries.

"Aaaaa!" Ruby suddenly screamed as she looked behind Hazel. He quickly turned around to see Three Ursas running towards them. "Ruby stay behind me!"

Hazel adjusted himself to a proper combat stance and readied himself for a fight.

*PCHOW* Suddenly Ruby's eyes flashed so brightly even Hazel had to blink a few times before seeing again, he was concerned that as soon as he would open his eye he would be met by a claw to the face.

But surprisingly all he saw was the three Ursas calmly turning around an leaving.

What did Ruby just do? did she actually do this? He wondered to himself.

"Ruby?" He looked at her only to see her collapsed on the ground. "Oh no!" He ran towards her and quickly lifted her up.

He had to go back to the castle now and see what was wrong, so he started running towards Salem's domain with all strength he had left in him.

* * *

 **And done! so now for the rules for the competition.**

 **the challenge is for you! yes you! to write a a one-shot of a date between (Drum rolls)**

 **Cinder X Tyrian**

 **How aboud dat huh? well anyway that basically the only rule (and yes it is not necessary for it to be in the universe of this specific fiction, you can create your own freaking universe for all i care, i just want what i asked for :P)**

 **The chapter has to be at least 2k words long, if you finish it post it and let me know by a private message and i'l read it!**

 **or if you don't know how to post just send the whole thing in a PM xD.**

 **anyway i hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	6. Chapter 6: Rose Awakening

**Well hello dear friends, I still exist and I apologize for the delay, I won't make up any excuses to why it was delayed this far, I just felt that my Writing was oof-point in the past days so i decided to wait until i get back into it!**

 **anyway enough with the blaberring and enjoy the new chapter from Little Grimm Riding Hood!**

 ** _Little Grimm Riding Hood_**

 ** _Chapter 6: Rose Awakening_**

* * *

Ruby woke up to find herself in her bed under her warm and pleasant blanket, she had vague memories of Ursas and Hazel fighting some Grimm. She was dressed in her favorite clothes, a normal White hoodie with a black flower on the back of it, it was brought to her by Watts as a gift, he told her what the flower was called but she never remembered it, she did remember however that it was somehow a major reason for her growth, according to watts.

She was also dressed in a pair of white comfy pants and warm cotton socks along with a small hair clip holding her hair in a small ponytail.

She also noticed the small glass of water on the nightstand next to her bed

But ignoring all of that, Ruby could barely move because of the extreme pain all over her body, especially in her head, and the huge headache did not help either. It was extremely uncomfortable and annoying to Ruby.

After some time however the sound of footsteps right outside the door to her room opening grabbed her attention. And a couple of seconds later the door handle started turning

Watts entered the room before closing the door behind him. He soon noticed how Ruby was sitting on her bed staring directly at him. "Ah You're awake, good." He said as he sat down in front of Ruby's bed, a pen and a small note in his hands.

She herself did not know if it's good or bad that she's awake, she would have rathered to be sleeping than having to deal with this killing headache.

"Listen carefully now Ruby, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and i want you to say yes or no, understand?" The reply he got from Ruby was her usual nod, only this time it seemed way less cheerful than usual. He never thought he would see the day when Ruby is not her cheerful self, and what he did not expect even more is that it would actually bother him to see her that way.

"Well, let's start off with a simple question, do you remember going for a walk with Hazel?" The reply he got from Ruby was a nod, indicating that she remembers going for that walk. "Very good" He told her as he wrote something down on the note.

"And do you remember getting attacked by Grimm?" He asked before looking back at Ruby. He immediately noticed the discomfort Ruby felt with that question, she clearly was still in a bit of trauma from what had happened, it wasn't every day a toddler would face an Ursa. "Ruby, yes or no?" he repeated, and soon he was answered with a nod from Ruby once again.

"And how many Grimm were there?" He asked. Ruby took a moment to think before lifting her hand up and pointing out 4 fingers. "Very good." Watts said as he wrote down on the note once more.

After a moment Ruby found Watts staring at her face for a good while and it made her uncomfortable, but soon enough he stopped looking and quickly wrote something else on the note in his hand.

"Okay, and do you know what happened to those Grimm?" Ruby did not understand that question, she had thought that Hazel dealt with them just like how he usually deals with the dangerous Grimm outside of her home. She shook her head revealing to Watts that she did not know, he had already suspected that answer but of course he needed to make sure. "Alright, as expected." he said before writing on his note once again.

After finishing what he was writing, he looked up to see Ruby starting directly at him, as if she was expecting something from him. "You want to know what happened, don't you?" His question earned a small and unsure nod from Ruby, as if she thought she was asking a forbidden question of some kind and that it would get her in trouble. "Well Ruby...You happened."

His reply raised more questions than answers for the little girl. "Listen, you'll understand soon enough but for now let's stay on track, i don't have all day and i have more pressing matters to attend to." He said to the little girl. She had no option but to comply, it wasn't like there was anything she could do, and she had no more questions anyway so there would be no point in arguing.

"Now, lastly. Do you feel any kind of pain in a specific area of your body?" Ruby quickly pointed her finger on her own face, specifically her right eye.

"Hmm..." was Watts's only respond as he scratched his chin and then started writing on the notepad. "Well then, that's it. Cinder and Tyrian will be here any minute now, i'm going back to my laboratory, go easy on yourself, you're still not fully recovered." Ruby did not understand half of what he said, she had no idea why he always used such weird words when he talked such as 'Labo-Something' But she did understand enough to know that she shouldn't move too much.

Finally Watts left the room and closed the door behind him, he immediately spotted Cinder and Tyrian coming from the end of the hallway, he kept looking at his note as he walked to their direction. "Watts, how is she?" Cinder asked as she stopped in front of Watts. "She's stable for now, I'm going to my lab to see what exactly i can figure out from her answers." He answered. "Well don't forget the meeting tonight, Salem said it's urgent" Cinder reminded him as she walked past him with Tyrian behind her. Watts turned around and said "Be careful and don't let her make any sudden moves, i still don't know how stable she is." Tyrian turned his head around and gave Watts a small grin as he kept walking.

...

...

Cinder entered the room only to be immediately met with a depressed looking Ruby, thankfully Cinder's presence had immediate effects on Ruby's mood.

She walked towards Ruby's bed and sat down on the chair next to it, she stayed silent as she thought of anything to say, she wasn't good with words in these kinds of situations.

She started speaking. "Sooo...Rub-" "So How was it!" Tyrian said out of nowhere as he got obnoxiously close to Ruby. "Tyrian! Leave her alone." Cinder warned as she got out of her seat. "What? i'm just asking her a question!" He answered. "And what do you mean by it, how was what?" She asked whilst taking a step closer to Tyrian. "Well obviously i meant how did she feel like after being so close to die!" he said as he watched Ruby's face turn expression turn from tired to terrified.

He got even more close to Ruby, his face must have been mere inches away from hers as he asked again "So how was it! Even I was never this close to dying you know!"

He was amused as he watched her eyes tear up before she started pushing him away with all her strength. "Tyrian stop!" Cinder shouted as she grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him away from Ruby. "What are you trying to do to her?" she said after standing between him and the little girl. "Ohhhh my... Cinder is protecting her little fire flower is she now?" He teased as he looked behind Cinder, straight at Ruby. "Hey! I'm the one talking to you, leave her alone." she threatened. "Hehehehe, or what?" he asked with a smug written all over his face.

Cinder had to chose her next few words very carefully, she was talking to Tyrian, and because of her experience with him she knew that what she would say now would either make things ten times worse or it would defuse the situation. Then a brilliant idea struck her. "Or...I'll tell Salem." she said as she watched all the mischief on his face turn into pure anger. "You wouldn't dare!" He claimed as he backed away slowly. "Well, as it happens Tyrian, I know of a certain someone who has dared to disobey Salem's orders behind her back, maybe me and little Ruby here should go pay her a visit now and tell her how her trust in you will turn into disappointment."

Tyrian's eye dilated in shock. "D-d-disappointment?" he said. Cinder had to keep herself from laughing, it looked as if Tyrian was wondering his whole existence at this moment.

"Yeees Tyrian, she would be very very disappointed, didn't you know that?" Cinder teased, she was on the brink of laughing just because of the pathetic expression on Tyrian's face, all she had to do is threaten to tell Salem, it was like a small kid threatening their bully to tell a teacher.

Cinder now basically had him in her fingertips, so she said "Now Tyrian, would y-" "Shut up bitch!"

Well that was unexpected...

Cinder was shocked, Tyrian was truly a very stupid being. "Now you'll s-" She was cut off by Tyrian suddenly lunging at her direction, she had barely enough time to step sideways and dodge his sudden attack. "What are you doing?!" Cinder had expected this to happen the least, actually she didn't expect this to happen at all! "I'm making sure to teach you a lesson, bitch!" He answered as he dashed in her direction once mo- "BTCH"

"What?" both the faunus and the human said in the same time. "Btch!" They both turned their heads slowly to the direction of the sound to see a giggling toddler.

Cinder couldn't believe it, Ruby just had her first word...She did not expect it to be this disappointing. Tyrian couldn't help but speak "Talk about disappointment."

Cinder gave him a death stare that would make any Grimm flee before quickly running down and kneeling next to Ruby's bed. "No no no Ruby! do not say that! okay?" Ruby one giggled as she said "Cidnerr Btch!" before raising her arms high in the air proudly. Tyrian giggled before speaking again "Ohh, look Cinder...She's giving you a compliment!"

Cinder looked at him before speaking "Shut up and help me!" then Cinder's heart skipped a beat because of the sound of the door handle turning. "Oh no." was all She and Tyrian could say before the last person on Remnant that they would want to walk in was revealed in front of them.

Salem entered the room and quickly asked both of them the same question. "What in the name of dust is happening here?" She asked.

Ruby was the one in the room that was absolutely delighted to see Salem, she did not even bother to listen to Watts's instructions as she quickly hurled herself out of bed and ran to Salem's direction. Ruby was so excited to see Salem she used her semblance to make sure no one would stop her on her way to Salem.

Suddenly Salem found Ruby hugging her leg and looking up straight at her face. It was cute and Salem had to restrain herself from the urge to lift the toddler in front of her allies. Soon enough tough, she found Ruby pointing at Cinder. "What is it Rub-" she was cut off by Ruby saying the only thing Cinder would rather her not say at that very moment.

"Cidner Btch!" Ruby shouted proudly as she raised her hands high up in the air. "W-what did you just say?" Salem questioned in disbelief. "Cidner Btch!" Ruby repeated whilst raising her hands even higher this time. Salem had already heard her the first time, she just had no idea what else to say. " Tell me now which of you is responsible for this?" Salem demanded.

"M'lady! it was Cinder who tricked me into teaching the young girl such words, please forgive me!" Tyrian said as he bowed down to his goddess.

Before either Cinder or Salem could utter a word, a very unexpected reply came from the young girl in the room. "Tyyian btch tuo?"

"Ruby stop! I'm sorry Salem W-" "Sayem btch!" Ruby shouted cheerfully, this time raising her hands and jumping in the air in the same time.

All what Cinder could do is facepalm to hide her own embarrassment whilst Tyrian did not dare to stop bowing down to his goddess.

...

...

Salem was sitting on her throne in the meeting room, both Tyrian and Cinder were also in their seats, they were all patiently waiting for watts to return from his lab for the meeting, Tyrian was too ashamed of speaking while Cinder was too embarrassed to even look at Salem.

They had some trouble in making Ruby stop talking let alone putting her to sleep. Soon the sound of the meeting room's door opening caught their attention, Then Watts walked in with a small paper in his hands, he noticed the face expressions on each of his allies whilst he made his was to a seat. "What did I miss" he asked. He was answered by Salem " nothing important." she said. He then sat down after Salem raised her hand instructing him to do so.

Watts wasted no time before speaking. "Want the good news or the bad news first." The only reply he had was silence along the whole room. "Fine, let's start with the good news... Ruby has no physical nor memory damage." Cinder then spoke out. "And the bad news?" "The bad news miss Fall is the fact that i have absolutely no damned idea what is wrong with this girl, all the signs show that she is completely normal but we all know she keeps having those sudden flashed with her Black eye."

"And what is the solution?" Salem asked. "I'm afraid i don't know, my best bet for now would be to train her from a young age to contain her powers instead of risking to wait for no reason."

"Then it is decided, we will take action and try to understand how to control her powers, for now i expect all of you to keep an eye on her." Salem announced. "Also, tomorrow i will be the one looking after her, i have a few things i need to show her, so take the opportunity to complete anything that you have no time for. All three of them responded with a nod. "Well now you are all free to lea-"

*Knock Knock*

"Ah that must be Hazel, he said he will be back from the assignment soon" Watts said. "Come in Hazel" Salem spoke out.

Nobody came in.

"Come on hazel" Cinder said. And yet still no one came in. "Is the door locked?" Watts said as he got up and walked towards the door. He then opened the door half expecting to see the tall man in front of him, yet there was no one.

Until he looked down.

He saw a sleepy Ruby Rubbing her eyes before looking up at him. "Wachs Btch?"

Watts was surprised by Ruby talking to say the least, and he was even more surprised by what she said. He looked back at his allies to see Cinder hiding her face with her hand while Tyrian was smiling directly at her. "So that's what i missed..."

 **Woopie dee doo! even though this is one of the smallest chapters iv'e written, believe it or not it took the most time. And i have no idea why!**

 **anyway i hoped you enjoyed the chapter and the couple of easter egg references i put in it, if you focus you'll find them :P**

 **also if you get 5 new messages that i updated the story, then sorry i am just fixing any grammar mistakes that slipped in the last 5 chapters.**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	7. Chapter 7: Nightmare For The Grimm Queen

**Hello! What's up?! (Still waiting for someone to answer that)**

 **Welcome back! now isn't this a surprise? Two chapters in Two days! yay!**

 **Honestly it's thanks to the great feedback that i got on last chapter that I Decided to write again today, plus i was in a good mood. (a bit of a warning, the fourth wall breaking is strong with this one xP)**

 **And I am sorry in advance if there is some punctuation mistakes in the chapter. I hope that if there is that it won't bother you too much.**

 **Anyway i hope you enjoy the new chapter from Little Grimm Riding Hood!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 ** _Chapter 7: A Nightmare For The Grimm Queen_**

* * *

"Please don't hurt me! I'll do anything!"

It was another one of those pathetic excuses all humans come up with for keeping their pitiful lives. Salem wouldn't dare show the slightest bit of mercy to this lowly being. She slowly walked towards the coward in front of her, making sure to show him her bloody hand to terrify him even further. "Please! show mercy, I beg you!" the coward begged for his life as Salem drew closer with each passing second. The only thing Salem could think about is the amount of hypocrisy coming from this filthy maggot. where was her mercy when she was a child? Where was the mercy that was supposed to be showed to her family? Did humans show them any mercy? No they did not.

"You deserve no mercy." She said as she stood right in front of the man, he was on his knees, just like how a pathetic being like him should be. "PLEASE!" he screamed as he took a hold of Salem's dress, he started kissing the dress thinking that it might make the woman in front of him a bit more merciful with him than the rest of his village. What he didn't know is that it would annoy her even further for someone like him to even dare touch her. "I'll do anything i swear!" he said with tears in his eyes as he looked up at the terrifying woman.

Salem did not bother uttering a word as she slowly lowered her hand, grabbing the man by the neck and lifting him high up in the air. "No matter what you do, you'll never be worth of mercy." She told the man. He could hardly breath as she tightened her grip around his neck. "P-Please!" Was what he said before suddenly hearing a crack followed by a split second of unimaginable pain in his neck. Then everything went dark.

Salem threw the lifeless body on the ground, the thrill of the rushed blood on her arm making her body pump with adrenaline. The smile on her face was clear as the sun as she looked at the burning village that surrounds her. Remembering the the screams of the humans that once lived here kept her ears ringing with pleasure.

One thing Salem did notice however was that the blood on her hand seemed weird, she was sure no blood ever felt like this, it wasn't supposed to be this light, and why is it spreading to the rest of her body? Why does it smell so weird?

...

Salem slowly opened her eyes and yawned, whatever had just interrupted her from her pleasant dream would surely not go unpunished, the only problem was that she had no idea what ruined the dream all of a sudden.

She slowly got up to a sitting position and looked out of the window of her room, It looked like it was still late at night since there was no sign of any light outside.

Ignoring that however, what was this sticky annoying substance that awoke Salem from her pleasant sleep?

Salem was about to get off the bed until her knees hit something while she was moving. "What the?" she questioned as she looked at what appeared to be something under the cover. She then started lifting the covers only to be immediately met with a small kid under it.

A very wet and smelly kid.

"Ruby?! what are you doing he-!?" Salem shouting has awoken Ruby in a split-second. "Agh!" Ruby screamed as she quickly disappeared into a pile of rose petals. Salem thought to herself that she might have been just a tiny bit too loud.

"Ruby?" She called out, She forgot that even though she hadn't even attempted to scare her, Ruby was still only a Kid, a kid that was easily scared of anything, especially if it's something she didn't know.

"Ruby, what are you doing here? Come out child." she called out again as she got up from bed, only now noticing how her whole lower body was covered in water. Very very sticky water.

"What is this?" she said as she lifted up her dress, smelling the substance. "Ugh! what's this horrible smell!" She said as she nearly gagged. Then the horrific idea struck her head, she knew what this was. "Oh dear dust." She said before quickly running out of the room to the direction of the bathroom.

Meanwhile Ruby was sitting terrified under the bed, she had no idea what just happened or why Salem was so mad at her all of a sudden. She only had a nightmare and was too afraid to sleep alone, and since Cinder wasn't home she couldn't go to anyone except for Salem. Just the thought of Salem being mad at her brought a tear to the young girl's eye.

...

By now Ruby must have been sitting under the bed for the minimum of ten minutes, all she knew is that she was having a dream about playing with Cinder until being suddenly awoken by Shouting.

*Click* The sound of the door opening and closing scared Ruby, no doubt that she will be facing Salem any moment now.

Ruby could now barely see Salem's feet, she was standing right in front of the bed. "Come out Ruby, I know you're under the bed." Ruby's heart skipped a beat, how did Salem know her hiding place? It was the most perfectest hiding place ever!

Oh right,her eye was connected to her...No fair.

Ruby gulped before slowly crawling out of bed and standing up in front of Salem, She immediately noticed how Salem changed her entire outfit to a purple robe instead of her normal nightgown. "Ruby-" - what the hell are doing here!?. Is what Salem wanted to shout, but after luckily noticing the tears and ashamed look that Ruby gave her, she just couldn't bring herself to say it, So she just settled for a more calm approach. "ugh, Ruby what are you doing here?" Salem said softly as she crossed her arms.

"B-bad dream" Ruby said softly, Salem did not actually expect and answer since the girl has barely started speaking a few hours ago. "I see, you had a nightmare."

"Nitemere?" Ruby questioned. Salem forgot that Ruby's vocabulary isn't exactly huge. "I mean you had a bad dream, is that what happened?" Salem asked. Ruby then replied with a nod.

"Well why didn't you go to Cinder then?" Ruby was quick to point at the window in the room. "I see, so she's not in the castle?" Salem asked. Ruby then nodded again.

Salem was annoyed beyond words, not only did this absolutely disgusting event just happen, but also she couldn't bring herself to Punish who is responsible for it. This child was truly making Salem destroy her own morals more and more every day.

"Well come on, we can't just leave you like this, you need a bath." Salem said as she started walking towards the door, she then grabbed the door handle and opened the door, waiting for Ruby to exit.

"Ruby?" Salem said as she looked behind her, she saw that Ruby was still standing in the same spot, only now she was stretching her hand towards Salem.

This was too much, Salem wouldn't ever hold her hand down the hall... right?

...

...

After a rather embarrassing walk down the hallway and a nightmare of a shower, Salem finally found one thing left to do before sleeping.

The worst thing of them all.

"Ruby please just stop moving!" Salem requested. "Mhhhhm!" Ruby moaned as she kept struggling. "Ruby just let me put the diaper on! What kind of manners is this?!" Salem said while trying t hold the toddler in place without hurting it. It would have been easy if Salem could just restrain the kid, but only a small push from Salem is strong enough to make the girl cry. "Uh uh!" Ruby said as she shaked her head with all her might.

Salem gave up and backed away from Ruby, throwing the white colored diaper on the ground from her frustration. "What do you want Ruby?" Salem asked as she fell down on the chair from exhaustion.

Ruby quickly used her semblance to jump off the changing table and make her way to the bag full of diapers. luckily for her the kind of diaper bags that Cinder buys her are always full of differently colored diapers. She grabbed another diaper and then stood in front of Salem with a pink diaper in her hand and an adorable smile on her face.

*facepalm* "Is that really all you want, child? A pink diaper?" Salem wondered, she would basically do whatever Ruby wanted by this point, she had only one thing on her mind. Sleep.

Salem used her remaining strength to get up from the chair and grab the diaper from Ruby's hand. "Come on" Salem said as she walked towards Ruby's diaper changing table.

She first grabbed the baby powder.

*Clang* "Ouch!" Salem was suddenly kicked to the face by Ruby. "Sowwy!" Ruby apologized quickly. *Boom* Salem was surprised to the point where she applied so much pressure to the bottle in her hand, it popped.

"It's...fine" Salem said as she wiped the powder off of her face, she did not even care by this point.

She wasted no time as she started changing Ruby's diaper. the toddler did not stop squirming which annoyed Salem, but she did not know that she was actually tickling the child in the process of changing the diaper.

Salem finally finished putting on the diaper on the girl, and she wasted no time as she walked towards the door to Ruby's room, ready to exit and go to her own room and finally get the rest of the night as sleep. "Now go sleep Ruby." she said as she was nearing the door.

*Pooch!* Salem suddenly found Ruby between her and the door to the room, she also had her hands behind her back and a smug smile on her face. "What is it now?" Salem asked as she prepared for the worst.

Ruby Showed what was behind her back, revealing that it was another pink diaper, she extended her arm as if she was giving the diaper to Salem. "You too Sayem!"

This girl...This girl is worse than anything i ever fought!

"No way in hell." Salem said as she pushed the kid aside and left the room.

Salem started to walk down the hallway as fast as she can, she wanted no more interruptions.

*pooch!* Ruby was standing in front of Salem again, with the same smug smile and her arms extended and a diaper in her hand.

Salem kept walking by as if she saw nothing, this girl was truly a living nightmare.

And just with the blink of an eye Salem found Ruby in front of her again, leaving a small trail of rose petals indicating that she had used her semblance once more. "Sayem pwease!" The child begged. "No Ruby, go sleep." Salem said as she walked by the little child.

The same cycle continued once more as Ruby stood in Salem's way this time instead of next to her. "Pweaaaase!" The child moaned in despair.

Salem was about to walk past the girl again but this time she stopped instead. "Fine give me the stupid Diaper and go to your room!" Salem said as she snatched the diaper out of Ruby's hand. "Yayyy!" The toddler screamed in joy as she used her semblance one more time to make her way to her own bedroom.

Salem simply continued her way to the bedroom, and when she reached it she locked the door behind her and threw the diaper out of the window. She then collapsed on her bed from her tiredness.

Only to be met with a smell and the feeling of the same disgusting substance she felt earlier this night.

She forgot to change the wet bed sheets.

"God damnit!"

This night was only starting.

...

...

*Knock Knock*

"ugghh" Salem moaned while still half asleep. *Knock Knock* "Ruby Stop!" she yelled, her words sadly did not reach whoever was knocking on the door since she was yelling while her face was basically glued to her own pillow. *knock knock*

"Stop! I'm coming" she said, this time lifting her head a bit so Ruby would stop knocking, she slowly lifted herself into a sitting position, she was also barely able to keep her eyes open, there was no way that she would have possibly slept enough time.

She slowly unlocked the door before opening it and instantly looking down, expecting to see Ruby. She was only greeted by a pair of legs, she quickly lifted her head only to reveal that cinder was the one standing in front of her. "Cinder!" Salem said as she quickly snapped her eyes open, acting as if she wasn't tired.

"W-what is it Cinder?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes. "Well, you said you wanted to take Ruby to the forest in the morning remember? it's now ten in the morni-"

*SLAM* Cinder nearly jumped from the sudden slam of the door right in front of her.

"You take her! Salem yelled from behind the door. "But I have an assignment today!" Cinder yelled back from the other side of the door. "Then give her to Hazel!" Salem shouted again. "Salem, both Watts and Hazel aren't here for at least a week, and I don't think we should be giving her to Tyrian." Said Cinder.

Salem hated everything about life at this very moment, She was never treated with such cruelty in all her life. "Fine! Just leave her outside and I'll come out in a minute" Salem told Cinder before walking to her wardrobe and looking through her favorite selection of nightgowns. "I'll prepare Ruby and be right back." Cinder said as she started walking away, not knowing that Salem had dressed up as fast as she can and already collapsed on her bed trying to get as much sleep as she possibly can.

...

Cinder entered Ruby's room, only to see the little Ruby she had already finished preparing minutes earlier. "Well Ruby you weren't lying, she is tired." Cinder told Ruby before after closing the door behind her. Ruby quickly replied as best she could. "Yeth! Sayem tiyed!" Ruby said as if she was mocking Cinder, it looks like somehow Ruby had expected Cinder to already know that. "Well whatever, you're going with her now so let's go." She said before opening the door again, soon she found Ruby already outside the room, a small trail of Rose petals was behind her indicating that she had used her semblance. Cinder never knew how Ruby had enough aura to use her semblance like that all day long, she had a ton of aura, especially for a toddler that wasn't even supposed to have aura in the first place. Let alone a semblance.

Closing the door behind her, Cinder started walking while holding Ruby's hand, she had no idea why Ruby never accepted walking in the hallway without holding someone's hand, but she wasn't about to fight Ruby's logic.

Soon both her and little Rose were in front of Salem's bedroom door. "Alright Ruby, I'm late so I'm off to my assignment, knock on the door and Salem will open. If she doesn't then keep knocking." Cinder said before leaving with haste. Sadly not knowing how much her words will torture her leader Salem.

*Knock knock knock knock knock knock* Ruby just wouldn't stop knocking no matter what. "Stop!" Salem yelled before getting out of bed, eager to stop the annoying knocking.

"Cinder what are yo- oh, ruby" Salem was met by Ruby smiling cheerfully on her doorstep. Soon Ruby extended her hand towards Salem. "Let's just go." Salem ordered as she grabbed the toddler and started walking, Not realizing that she is basically dragging the poor child behind her.

...

"So Ruby, did you have fun last night?" Salem asked while she was walking in the woods with Ruby, Trying her best to enjoy the air even with the presence of the toddler next to her. "Uhuh" Ruby replied as she walked next to Salem.

"Well good, you're going to start to have the most fun out of your free time from now on Ruby." "Why?" The little girl asked Salem, still barely able to speak proper words out of her mouth. "Well Ruby, do you know why we are out here?" Salem asked the girl. Ruby took a moment to think before suddenly looking as if a brilliant idea struck her head. "Sayem btch!" Ruby shouted, clearly assuming that it was the right answer.

"No Ruby! We are going to start to train you." Salem corrected Ruby.

"Tain you?" Ruby questioned. "No Ruby, train you." Salem clarified. Ruby then nodded happily before speaking again. "Tain you!" Ruby was sure that she was right this time. "No ruby! We are going to train You! We are going to train Ruby." Salem Corrected her once more. "Tain Wuby?" The girl wondered. "Yes!" Salem was relieved that she finally got it through the girl's head.

"Now, Ruby will yo- Wait what are you looking at?" Salem said as she spotted Ruby looking straight up in the air above them. All what Salem saw was Tree branches and one red apple that was barely visible between the thick leaves of the tree. She then looked down at Ruby only to notice how Ruby was pointing straight at the apple. "You want that apple don't you?" Salem asked the little girl. Ruby nodded vigorously upon hearing the question.

Salem Sighed before speaking. "Fine." She said as she raised her hand, ready to summon a tiny nevermore to snatch that apple from the tree.

*Pchow!* Was the sound Salem heard before being blinded for a split-second by a red light flashing around her. "Ruby?!" Salem yelled as she looked around trying to find Ruby.

She then heard the sound of a crack coming from above her.

oh no...

She slowly raised her head to see what is above her, prepared for the worst. She soon found little Ruby somehow dangling from a tree branch with one hand and the other hand was busy holding a red apple.

"Ruby! hold on and do not look down!" Salem shouted as she focused her energy to quickly summon a nevermore large enough to save Ruby.

*Crack* followed by the sound of leaves rustling and feeling her own heart skip a beat was the last thing that happened to Ruby before the tree branch she was holding onto for dear life snapped.

Ruby started to fall down, too terrified to even scream. She knew that this wouldn't kill her because watts has explained to her before that aura is the magical angel guarding Ruby. But she knew that it was going to hurt. So she braced herself for impact while prepared for the worst.

She felt herself touching the ground now, the soft and curved ground, holding her in place as soon as she could even touch it.

'Wait isn't ground supposed to be hard?' Ruby thought to herself as she opened her eyes, revealing that she was actually caught by Salem instead of the ground.

Ruby quickly wrapped her arms around Salem's neck as tight as she could, terrified of what had just happened.

"easy child, it's okay, You're okay."

* * *

 **Woo! What a chapter, i had fun writing this! Anyway this chapter was 3.3K words long (Excluding both the A/N) I hope you enjoyed this! Please review because it really helps!**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next update should be in the weekend. Probably saturday.**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	8. Chapter 8: Birthday Girl!

**Well what's up! (I really need to think of something different to start of the A/N with)**

 **Anyway! Welcome back to this story! First things first I want to thank every one of you for the amazing feedback I have been getting on the last couple of chapters!**

 **Secondly! A tip from me is to imagine that Ruby has a lisp when talking, I'll occasionally write her dialogue with a small mistake *on purpose* just to remind you that she has a lisp. but I won't do it too much because I know it annoys a lot of people, but just to be clear. when I actually write the lisp, the letter 'S' will be written like 'TH' and if I write the letters 'R' and 'L' they will be written as "W" and "Y"**

 **I wanted to get the lisping out of the way, I'll make sure to not write it too frequently, it's up to you to imagine it if you want to. I'm just trying to keep everyone happy :P**

 **Thirdly! well actually there is nothing else... So let's get started! I hope you enjoy the new chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 8: Birthday Girl!**_

* * *

Cinder Gently opened the door to Ruby's room before she sneaked her way to the window as quietly as she possibly can, making sure Ruby does not wake up from the sound of her footsteps. She then reached her hand and pulled the curtain as fast as she can. "Good morniiiing!" Cinder sung as loudly as she can before she started running towards Ruby's bed.

"Mmph..." Ruby moaned. Cinder then sat down on the only bed in the room, which was the bed Ruby was sleeping on. "Oh what is it? Too early for you?" Cinder joked as she started shaking the now three year old. "Come on birthday girl!" Cinder said, Ruby couldn't help but smile slightly, she quickly hid her face as she turned her face the other way, making sure to not open her eyes in the process."

Cinder also couldn't help but giggle from how cute and adorable Ruby was, she was trying desperately to act sleepy, Which never ever works.

This day however, Cinder was willing to play along since it's a very special day to the little toddler. "Oh, well I guess I tried my best..." she said as she got up from bed and started walking towards the door, Making sure her back is facing Ruby.

And about halfway through the distance between the bed and the door is when it happened. "I got you!" Ruby cheered as she quickly used her speed to reach Cinder ,she then wrapped her arms around Cinder, and after that she lifted her legs and wrapped them around Cinder's waist, forcing her to give her a piggyback ride. "Oh no! You got me!" Cinder screamed.

"Hehe! Did I Scawe you?" Ruby asked as she jumped off of Cinder. "Yes Ruby, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Cinder replied as she turned around to face the girl. "Heart attack? What does that mean?" Ruby asked curiously. "Not important...What's important is you getting ready for the day, now tell me. Do you know what day this is?" Cinder asked as she walked towards the wardrobe with Ruby skipping right behind her. "Sunday?" The toddler answered as she stood behind Cinder. "No Ruby..." Cinder replied while searching for proper clothes for Ruby.

"I'm just kidding! It's my birthday!" Ruby happily spoke out. She then saw Cinder pull out three different items. The first one being a normal Cyan T-shirt with a big heart drawn on the front. The second item was a pair of black and comfy cargo pants. The last thing she saw was a light jacket, It was also Cyan to match the shirt she will be wearing for the day.

"That's right." Cinder said with a smile as she walked towards Ruby with the clothes in her hand. She then started unziping Ruby's one-piece pajama. "Sooo, what did you get me?!" Ruby asked excitedly as Cinder started dressing her up. "Ruby, you know it won't be considered a surprise if i tell you." was Cinder's reply to the question. "Aww pleaaase! tell me anything, even a hint!" Ruby pleaded. "No Ruby, I can't give you a hint" Cinder Answered as she finished dressing up Ruby.

Cinder and Ruby left the room and headed for the main hall, it's where usually everyone is in days like these where no one has assignments to do. They walked down the hall, Ruby holding Cinder's hand as usual. "So, Who's present are you most excited about?" Cinder asked as they neared the huge door at the end of the hallway. "Hmm... Tyrian!" Ruby answered after Thinking carefully. Cinder did not expect such answer from the little girl, she wondered why would be Tyrian of all people the most exciting one to bring her a present. "And why is that Ruby? Cinder asked while trying to hide her concerned tone. "Because he always does exciting and fun stuff!" Ruby replied, clearly excited just by thinking what she would receive this day.

"Well okay then" Cinder said while trying to hide her concern,she made up her mind that whatever present Tyrian gets Ruby has to be checked to make sure it's safe.

Even though today wasn't exactly Ruby's birthday since no one from the group actually knows the day she was born in, they just used the day when Salem first brought her home. According to Watts, the girl could have been three years old for over two months already.

Cinder and Ruby finally reached the gigantic door that leads to the main hall. "Are you ready?" Cinder asked. Ruby soon replied with a cheerful nod. "Okay." Cinder said as she pushed the door using both her hands.

"I'm here!" Ruby yelled as she quickly ran into the room, hoping to surprise anyone on the other end. Cinder walked in right behind Ruby only to notice that there was no one but her and the little toddler in the room. "C-Cinder where is everyone?" Ruby asked worriedly. "I- Don't worry Ruby, just wait a minute." Cinder said before she started to look around for the others. She soon came to notice a note that was pinned to the wall. She quickly dreaded what could be written in the note, it was fairly obvious that what is going on won't please Ruby.

She read the note, and sadly what she feared was coming true.

The note said 'Urgent mission, all of us will be gone for a week, Ruby's Presents are under the main table, Tell Ruby I am sorry. Hazel.'

"Cinder What are you holding? Where are they?" Cinder jumped as she suddenly heard those words coming from right behind her. "Oh! Well...Ruby i'm sorry dear." Cinder hated to be the one to tell the girl the bad news, but there was clearly no way around it. "What do you mean? you didn't do anything." Ruby wondered. "Ruby, they all can't be here..."

Cinder watched as Ruby's face expression changed from curious to sad and disappointed. "B-but Hazel promised! He said he and the others would be here!" Ruby cried. "Well I am sorry Ruby, and so are they...but they just can't be here now."

Ruby couldn't help but get frustrated, she was waiting for this day for so long and it just got ruined by a stupid mission. "Fine!" Ruby yelled as she disappeared, leaving a trail of fading rose petals behind her. The trail was clearly leading to her own room.

"Ughh, why today." Cinder collapsed on the couch, thinking of anyway to fix this problem. She Was left alone in the castle with Ruby, even Salem herself said she won't be back before midnight as she wanted to go to the forest alone.

All what Cinder could do is hope to come up with something to fix this day. The presents were probably going to help but she still needed something to add to it.

...

Ruby reached her room in the brink of a second, She immediately closed the door behind her as she collapsed on her own bed and started crying into her blanket. She waited for this day for so long, she wanted to celebrate her birthday with her friends more than anything in this day, but sadly it seemed like that wouldn't happen. The only thing she might get out of this day was the presents, but it wouldn't be the same as receiving the presents straight from her friends.

Ruby's thoughts of what could have been were interrupted by Cinder knocking on her door. "Ruby, do you want to open your presents?" She asked as she stood outside the room. "No!" Ruby yelled out before she continued to cry into her pillow. Cinder on the other hand had thought of the perfect plan to turn this day around. "I'm coming in Ruby." She said as she opened the door to the room and walked in.

Ruby quickly sat up and wiped her tears. Cinder then silently walked towards her and sat next to her. "Ruby, we can still do something fun today you know." Cinder said to the girl in an attempt to cheer her up. "Like what?" Ruby asked whilst still trying to stop sobbing. Cinder moved her hand and started gently wiping Ruby's tears from under her eye using her finger. "Well, we can go open the presents and then we ca-" "I want to go outside!" Ruby said interrupting Cinder. "Is that all?" Cinder asked, she thought making this day better for Ruby would be harder than just getting out of the castle for a walk or the like.

"No Cinder I wanna go out to where you go!" Ruby clarified. "Oh okay we ca- Wait what?" Cinder took a moment to actually realize what Ruby had just said. "C'mon pwease Cinder!" Ruby pleaded. "Sorry Ruby but that can't happen." Cinder answered. "Pleaaase! You keep talking about things you do there and it sound so fun!" Ruby pleaded once more. "It's too dangerous Ruby, I'm sorry but no." Was Cinder's final answer. "oh...okay then." Ruby said as a small tear found it's way to her cheek.

Cinder hated the feeling of rejecting the girl's wish, especially on her birthday. It was very unusual for Cinder to feel bad for someone else, let alone feeling bad for rejecting them herself, but Ruby was an exception. She hated to see little Ruby sad.

"Ruby..." Cinder paused as if she was carefully planning what she will say next. Ruby replied before Cinder continued "Yeth?"

Cinder could hardly mutter the next few words, because the consequence of anything going wrong would be unimaginable. "If we go to the city, do you absolutely promise to not leave my side no matter what?" Cinder's words made Ruby face take a full turn from sad to delighted. "YEES!" Ruby screamed with full force, nearly scaring Cinder herself.

"Well okay then, but if you don't behave then we will leave instantly, okay?" Cinder clarified before proceeding. Ruby settled down and tried her best to compose herself before speaking. "Yes, can we go right now!?" Ruby asked. Cinder giggled from Ruby's cuteness. She truly could bring the best out of anyone no matter how bad he is. "Yes Ruby we can go right now, But don't you want to open the presents first?" Cinder wondered if Ruby would be excited enough to actually postpone opening the presents.

"Oh yeah! let's open them but quickly!" Ruby said before quickly disappearing, leaving the usual trail of rose petals behind her. Cinder got up from the bed and followed the trail, closing the door behind her as she followed Ruby.

...

Cinder walked in into the hall with Ruby right behind her. She made her way to the table located right in the center of the room, it was a huge round table with emeralds and other jewels decorating it. She then ducked under the table to find four presents including her own. She reached her hand and grabbed them one by one, pulling them from under the table to her side.

She then got up and looked at the presents, noticing that every present had a small sticker with a name on it. "Ok Ruby which present do you want to open first?" She asked as she saw the excitement take over Ruby's body. "Yours!" Ruby answered as she quickly sat on the ground in front of the presents. "Well okay then go ahead, it's that one right there." Cinder said as she pointed to a small square box wrapped in red paper.

Ruby quickly grabbed the present and started tearing off the red wrapping, she then opened the small white box that was behind the wrapping. "Woaaah."

"Do you like it?" Cinder asked as Ruby pulled out a shiny silver necklace with a Rose symbol. "It's so pwetty! I love it!" Ruby said as she kept examining the necklace. "Do you want to put it on now?" Cinder asked. Ruby nodded and extended her hand towards Cinder, giving her the necklace.

Cinder Knelt down behind Ruby with the necklace in hand, she lifted Ruby's short hair out of the way before tying the necklace around her neck. "How does it look!?" Ruby asked excitedly. Cinder looked at the necklace around Ruby's neck, it matched her nearly as if it was supposed to be there, as if it was made specifically for her. "It looks amazing Ruby." Cinder said before playfully giving Ruby a small pinch on the cheek. "Ow! hey that hurt!" Ruby said jokingly before she got up and gave Cinder a small hug. "Thank you Cinder, I love it!"

While Ruby thought a hug was a small gesture, Cinder took it as something way bigger, she wasn't even sure that someone had ever gave her a hug before. She didn't let the gesture distract her from what is happening though. "So which ones are you gonna open next?"

Ruby excitedly sat down on the ground once more as she grabbed the presents one by one and started opening them.

...

"Are you ready?" Cinder said before closing the gate behind her. "Yes! Let's go!" Ruby cheered as she pointed onwards. Ruby was now wearing a completely different outfit than earlier, which consisted of a pair of jeans, a plain white t-shirt And a cute denim jacket with a patched bunny on both sleeves. Lastly she was wearing the silver necklace she received earlier along with the other gifts. The necklace was already her favorite gift between all four presents.

She received the necklace from Cinder, while Hazel got her a new doll, Watts on the other hand brought her a set of small building blocks. And lastly Tyrian brought her a surprisingly nice gift which was a toy tail that can be strapped around her waist, she had always loved his tail and the tricks he could do with it and it was no surprise that he noticed that.

Cinder held Ruby's hand as she started walking with her towards the forest that conceals the domain from the rest of Vale. "What does it look like?" Was the question directed to Cinder from Ruby. "What does what look like?" Cinder asked back. "The city! Is it big? How does it look like? and how does it have so many people?" Ruby asked multiple questions and gave Cinder little time to answer each. "You'll just have to wait and see Ruby."

And after a lot of walking in the woods, and a lot of questions going on in Ruby's head, Cinder finally reached a point where she stopped walking, she stopped right in front of a huge line of bushes, Ruby wasn't able to make out what was on the other side because of how thick and tall the bushes were.

"Alright Ruby, remember our deal okay?" Cinder reminded. "Uh uh! No leaving your side!" Ruby said with a determined look on her face. "Alright, let's go." Cinder said. "Go where? there is nothing here." Ruby answered. "Things are not always like how they seem to be Ruby. Close your eyes and walk towards that bush." Was what Cinder said.

"What? but why?" Ruby wondered. "Just do it Ruby, don't worry i'll be right behind you." Ruby took a deep breath. "Okay! I'm going!" She said as she closed her eyes and started walking towards the bush."

She was waiting for the painful moment when she finds herself buried in with branches and pointy sticks. But for some reason she just kept walking for seconds before suddenly feeling a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes.

"Woaaah" Ruby suddenly found herself in a place surrounded by tons of people and really tall buildings. "Here we are." Cinder said as she removed her hand from Ruby's shoulder. "Do you like it Ruby?" She asked. "This is amazing!" Ruby was speechless in front of the great number of things around her. She couldn't help but look around excitedly, she tried to make out what everything is but there were certain things she simply couldn't make out because of how unfamiliar they were.

One thing she noticed however is that a certain place had many people surrounding it, and every couple of seconds one of those people would leave with what looks like a ball on a cone shaped piece of wood. "Cinder what is that?" She asked curiously. "That's the ice cream vendor Ruby, do you want some?"

Ruby had no idea what that Ice Cream is, but she surely wouldn't say no to an offer of trying a new thing, especially when it seems like everyone likes it seeing how there is tens of people in that specific place. "Yes! I want to try it!" She requested. Cinder silently took her hand and walked towards the ice cream vendor, she stood in line waiting for it to clear. "Cinder, why are we standing here? Can't we get it and leave?" Ruby asked confused. "No Ruby, that's not how it works, these people came her before us so they will get their ice cream first." Cinder answered "Ohh, okay that makes sense." Ruby replied to Cinder's answer.

Soon enough it was finally their turn to buy ice cream. "Two vanilla Cones" Cinder ordered. It took The man mere seconds before he handed her two big cones full of ice cream. Cinder then handed him two Lien and left with Ruby behind her. "Cinder what did you give that man?" Ruby asked. "I gave him money Ruby, if you want something from the city you need to buy it." Cinder explained. "Now let's go sit on that bench." she said with Ruby still walking behind her. "okay let's go!" Ruby agreed before she skipped in front of Cinder and Sat on the small wooden bench.

Cinder Sat down beside Ruby, Carefully handing her the cone. "Be Careful to not spill any." Cinder warned as she watched Ruby prepare for the best angle to start eating. She was about to tell Ruby to just lick the cream but She was suddenly surprised by the sight of the toddler biting straight into the ice cream.

Ruby's eyes opened up as she felt an amazing and refreshing taste in her mouth. Sadly for her that feeling did not last as she did not know the consequence of biting straight into ice cream. "Ow! My teeth!" Ruby screamed as she covered her mouth with her hand. "It's so cold Cinder!" She complained. Cinder couldn't help but start laughing, she had no idea that Ruby would straight up bite into the ice. "Ruby, you're supposed to lick it, not bite it." Cinder said while trying to contain her laughter.

Ruby kept rubbing her teeth hoping to make the pain go away, she was glad when she noticed the pain slowly fading away. "You mean like this?" Ruby asked as she started licking the ice cream. The same great taste as before found it's way into her mouth, this time there was no sudden pain in her teeth, and that was something she very much appreciated.

"So Ruby, how is your training going?" Cinder asked, she was always curious how Salem trained little Ruby, but for reasons unknown to her Salem never gave her a straight answer when she asks that question to her. "Good! I can use my Sembyance for more than ten seconds at once now!" Ruby answered.

Cinder asked another question as she finished her own cone. "And are you doing anything dangerous?" Ruby then answered with a much expected answer. "No, Salem keeps saying that I have to be patient before all the fun stuff! she just makes me sit on the ground and think about stuff!"

"You mean meditate?" Cinder Said as she watched Ruby finally finish her own cone of Ice Cream. "I don't know, She just tells me to focus my energy at stuff." Said Ruby.

Cinder was a bit relieved that Ruby wasn't doing anything overboard, she knew that Salem could sometimes demand things that are extremely hard to accomplish, but luckily it seems like that isn't what's happening to Little Ruby.

Ruby's excitement to explore the city couldn't be contained for much longer as she requested to do something else. "Cinder, can we go somewhere else now?" Cinder had no doubt that Ruby wanted to see every inch of the city, it was her first ever time to see such interesting things all in one place.

And luckily for Ruby, Cinder knew the most interesting place of them all.

* * *

 **GODDAMN CLIFFHANGERS! And yes I am 100% aware of the fact that this is 2 days late. But to be honest I have no excuse for that, so whatever xD.**

 **And this chapter Was 3.5k Words btw (excluding author notes)**

 **Hopefully next chapter will contain more events (which I know it will) than this chapter, I know that this one was basically just a little bit of time between Cinder and Ruby, and I know a lot of people like the stories to progress more and more with each chapter, but because I feel like I am actually progressing too fast I decided to slow it down a notch in the next few chapters. I want to make sure I can get everything I want out of toddler Ruby before She grows up, I don't want to regret missing an idea for a chapter or the like.**

 **But something to keep in mind is that I won't 100% slow down the progress of the story and make it boring with no events happening except for every 3 chapters, there will be always stuff happening in each chapter, even if they are minor things.**

 **With that small rant out of the way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And as always, reviews are extremely appreciated and so is any critique or advice. Thank you for reading!**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	9. Chapter 9: A Walk In The Park

**Well hello there, what's u- what's down? (Trying to mix it up a bit.)**

 **Now here is one chapter I was excited to write! Why you might ask? Well you'll have to wait and see muahahaha!**

 **Also, I remind you that Ruby has a lisp, I'll write it but not overdo it, it's up to you to imagine her having a lisp.**

 **And before I forget, Special thanks to: Merlin Pranks101 For beta-reading this chapter. Check out his RWBY story btw, it's an awesome crossover between RWBY and the FATE Series.**

 **But let's ignore that for now! I hope you enjoy the new chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 9: A Walk In The Park**_

* * *

"Woaaah" Was the only thing Ruby was capable of saying as she looked at an amazing sight right in front of her. "Do you like it?" Cinder asked with a smile. Ruby couldn't begin to explain how fascinating the sight in front of her was. "This is amazing!" She said as she started running forwards. Cinder chuckled as she Followed the girl that was excitedly running towards the park.

Cinder knew that Ruby would be excited to see such a huge place where any kid would be able to do basically anything he or she wants. The park they were at was the biggest in all of Vale, it was also named Beacon park after the renowned college of huntsman. It was a fairly big park, stretching more than a mile. It was also split into four parts.

The first one being north-West, which contained nothing more than nature, like flowers, trees, small lakes. And even a couple of small animals that call the place home.

The second was the North-East part, Which was exclusively made for small restaurants that were surrounded by all kinds of beautiful flowers. It was a Very common sight to see couples going out together in that specific part.

The third which was the South-West, which is where Ruby and Cinder were, it was full of all kinds of toys, and a couple of kid's playgrounds which had all kinds of slides and swings.

Lastly Was The South-East, which was restricted to anyone who was under the age of Eighteen. It was mainly visited by adults who wished to have some alone time without any loud sounds or kids.

Ruby found herself in the middle of a green field, surrounded by tons of kids that are playing on weird buildings she never saw before. Her priority was to know what everything in this area was supposed to be used for.

"What is this Cinder?" She asked excitedly as she pointed at a Swing. "It's called a swing Ruby." Cinder forgot that Ruby had absolutely no contact with the outside world except for the weekly walk in the forest she has with Hazel. "What does it do Cinder?" Ruby was anxious to try everything in this park, there was no way she would leave until she had her fair share of fun today, it was still her birthday after all. "Well why don't we go try it and then you'll see what it does." she offered the small girl. Ruby couldn't help but quickly run towards the swing with excitement. Cinder followed the girl as they both stopped in front of one of the unoccupied swings.

Ruby gazed curiously at the kids around her, all of them were sitting on the seats and going back and forth, it seemed pretty silly for her. "Is that what it does?" She asked disappointedly. "Yes, is something wrong?" Cinder wondered. "No...I- it doesn't look fun..." Cinder smiled at the little girl's response before she answered. "Don't come to conclusions before you try it Ruby, just give it a try first." Ruby sighed before nodding, she then hopped on the swing. "Come on, I'll push you." Cinder said as she walked behind the swing.

Ruby adjusted herself to the seat, she then grabbed the handles with both of her hands like everyone around her. "Cinder don't push too ha- AAAH!" Ruby suddenly found herself going high up in the sky, the air blowing her short hair onto her own face. She tightened her grip on the two bars like her life depended on it.

Cinder could barely keep herself from laughing as she kept pushing the toddler high up in the air as much as she can. "Cinder stop!" The girl cried out. "Why Ruby? wasn't it boring? I'm trying to make it more fun for you!" Cinder said with a completely sarcastic tone. "Ok ok! it's not boring, please stop!"

Cinder steadily decreased the amount of strength she put in each push, until she finally reached a reasonable amount. "Is this better?" the woman said with a smile full of mischief, a smile that Ruby sadly couldn't see as she was facing Cinder with her back. "Muuch better, please don't do that again." Cinder smiled before replying back to the little girl. "I won't promise anything" She said.

weirdly enough, now the swing was much more pleasant that Ruby thought it would be, she liked the feeling of the soft wind brushing against her, it was a feeling she could never have enough of as she was almost always stuck in Salem's domain.

"Alright Ruby, I'm going to sit on that bench over there, You'll be in my line of sight so if you need anything just wave." Ruby replied to Cinder with her usual cheerful nod, Cinder then gave her a small pat on the head before heading over to the bench and sitting down, she also made sure that Ruby would be in her line of sight as she sat down.

Soon enough though, a man with blond hair came walking towards her, he then stopped in front of the bench. "Mind if I sit here?" the man asked. Cinder silently motioned with her hands to accept the man's request, he thanked her before sitting down.

...

Ruby was sadly having a bit of trouble with her swing, she forgot that she had no idea how to operate this thing without her friend's help, but she wasn't about to give up as she kept shaking both of her arms and legs desperately, trying to move the swing just a bit at least. Sadly it was to no avail.

"Do you need any help there?" Came a voice from besides Ruby, She looked to her side only to see the swing next to her occupied by a blonde long haired girl. "Ugh I just don't know how to get this thing to work!" Ruby said as she shook her legs angrily. "Woah easy there, I can help push you if you want." The girl offered.

Ruby was stunned by the generous offer coming from the stranger. "You would? Thank you!" Ruby said as she watched the girl hop of her swing and move behind her own. "You're welcome, now I want you to start pushing yourself with your legs upwards as soon as I start pushing you, and do the same when you are going downwards, ok?" The girl explained. Ruby nodded as she adjusted herself properly, and as soon as she found herself going high up in the air she started doing the tactic that the girl explained earlier, and finally she found herself swinging with no help.

"That's it you got it!" The girl said as she hopped back on her own swing, she then started to swing herself until she was swinging with the same speed as Ruby. "Thank you for the help." upon hearing the girl thank her, the blonde girl decided to talk back. "You're welcome, the name is Yang by the way, Yang Xiao Long." Ruby greeted back by saying her own name. "And I am Ruby! Ruby...Uhh just Ruby actually."

...

"And then I said, well that's FANtastic! haha get it? because the fan stopped working!" Cinder wanted nothing more than to tear this man to pieces using her own fingernails. "yes...Very smart one there." She replied, the pain obvious in her tone. "Oh come on, don't be like that, I was just kitten with you!" The man said.

'GODDAMNIT' was the only word Cinder wanted to say at that moment, sadly she can't bring much attention to herself, especially since Ruby is with her. "Well that was very enlightening Mister Tai, but I am afraid I must go now." Cinder said, trying to escape the torture in anyway possible. "ohh, Well... do you know XIAO LONG will it be until I see you again?" He said as he burst into laugher. Cinder was starting to get tired from this man, she replied with frustration clear in her tone. "That's enough, farewell." The man stopped her one more time as he said. "Oh, well I guess I couldn't make Cinder FALL for me."

Cinder had to use literally all of her willpower to stop herself from burning that man right here and right now, she silently left and walked towards Ruby.

...

"You beat them up all by yourself?!" Ruby asked shocked. "Of course! I don't give bullies any mercy!" Yang replied. "That's amazing! But did you get in trouble for it?!" Yang grinned before answering. "Nothing I couldn't hand-." She was interrupted by the voice of a young woman. "Ruby, It's time to go now, it's getting late."

Ruby's face immediately changed from happy to sad, not because she had to leave, but because now she had to say goodbye to her newly made friend. "Oh...okay. Can I say goodbye first?" Cinder nodded as she looked around, making sure that the annoying man did not follow her.

Ruby hopped off the swing and waited for her friend to do the same, And when Yang finally slowed down enough, she got off the swing and started saying her goodbyes. "Well it was nice meeting you Rub-" She was interrupted by Ruby giving her a huge hug, a hug that she felt obligated to return, and that was exactly what she did.

After a couple moments of a very pleasant hug, Ruby finally released Yang and started talking. "I hope I see you again Yang." She said as she thought about the possibility of this being their first and last ever encounter. "Don't worry Rubes, I'm always here on sunday because my dad has work in Vale every week, We can see each other often if you can come!"

Ruby glanced back at Cinder, and as expected, Cinder gave her a look of uncertainty. Ruby looked back at her friend. "I'll do my best, bye!" "Goodbye Ruby!" they both waved at each other before parting ways.

...

...

It was almost night time when Cinder and Ruby finally reached the borders of the domain, they found themselves walking in the forest that they knew all too well. "Do you think I can go there again one day Cinder?" Ruby asked, hoping for an answer that is very unlikely to come out of Cinder's mouth. "I-I'll see what I can do Ruby." "You will?!" Ruby immediately replied. Cinder couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape her lips before she answered with a nod.

Soon enough, they both found themselves opening the door to the castle that they both call home. "Where were you!?" They were greeted by the terrifying sound of an angry Grimm goddess. Cinder quickly tried replying. "We were just going out fo- " "Enough!" Salem interrupted. "I know exactly where you were, what were you thinking Cinder?! Taking her to the middle of a crowded City!" Cinder was prepared to take all the blame, she knew it would be better than to disappoint Ruby. Which was something that Cinder herself couldn't comprehend still, how on Remnant does she care about Ruby so much that she would be prepared to do this?

"Sawem! I'm the one who told her to!" Ruby yelled as she stood in front of Cinder, as if she was protecting her. Salem's tone quickly changed from angry to curious and strict. "And why did you do that?" She asked the girl. "Because it's my birthday and no one was here! I wanted to have some fun Salem!"

The amount of thoughts that poured into Salem's mind at that moment was simply infinite. Was this Ruby's birthday? How on earth did Cinder agree to take her out? And most importantly, how on Remnant did she feel like she doesn't want to punish the child for misbehaving this badly.

And even though she didn't want to be harsh, she still couldn't let this go by without punishment, so she decided to punish Ruby with a very simple, yet effective punishment for someone like Ruby. "I must say Ruby, I am extremely disappointed by your actions." The grimm queen said as she motioned for both of them to get out of her sight.

Cinder grabbed a very sad looking Ruby by her shoulder and took her with her and left the room.

* * *

 **Hello again! I hope you enjoyed the Chapter, I certainly did because I was writing it with a friend of mine helping me, I already mentioned them in the first Author note.**

 **Anyway, I hid some VERY Hard to spot Foreshadowing, I hope some of you can spot it, a Hint is that it's in the form of a pun. (And no it's not one of the TaiYang puns.)**

 **I hope you don't unfollow because of the amount of horrible puns in the episode. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll see you soon!**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	10. Chapter 10: A Grimmling And Its Mentor

**Hello! it's me again! Monika! (Weird static noises which appear to be spelling out 'Just Monika')**

 **ugh, let's try that again shall we?**

 **But for real, whassup people?! (Waiting for 'SolidSnake10101' to make another dad joke.) This chapter is 2.7K words (Excluding A/N)**

 **Anyway, excuse the cringey A/N. I wanted to say that next episode will be a Bonus episode! Why you might ask? Because we have reached the tenth official chapter of the story! (Which is the double of what I originally planned)**

 **So, I want you all beautiful sons of guns to send me PM's Containing ideas for a bonus chapter! The most creative and appealing one is the one I will pick. Good luck ^^**

 **Special Thanks To "Merlin Pranks101" For beta-reading!**

 **Lastly, I remind you of Ruby having a Lisp, but please do put in mind that this is the last chapter that she will actually have it in, since we are moving on with the story, starting from the next main chapter.**

 **So without any more blabbering, I present to you the new chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood, I hope you enjoy!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood.**_

 _ **Chapter 10: A Grimmling And Its Mentor.**_

* * *

"Again Ruby." Were the words Ruby heard time after time, she started to not only dread them but to expect them, Because no matter how flawless her technique was, no matter how focused she was, and no matter how many times she repeated the same sequence, Salem just wouldn't let her rest.

"Do I have to? I've been doing this for soooo loooong." Ruby complained, even though she was used to the training, this time was definitely the hardest she ever trained, she wasn't sure if she was doing something wrong.

"Ruby. Again." Salem ordered, she then watched as the child sighed before continuing her training. Salem herself wasn't quite sure if she was doing this because she wants Ruby to train, or because she was unconsciously still angry at Ruby.

Ruby closed her eyes and started concentrating, waiting for Salem to start the sequence that she had already repeated well over five times already. "Are you ready Ruby?" The woman asked, Ruby replied with a nod as she concentrated all of her power on her right eye.

Salem raised her hand, and with a snap of her fingers a Grimm was summoned to Ruby's right. She made sure to command the grimm to be unhostile towards Ruby, she then watched as Ruby turned to face the monster, "It's right here!" Ruby yelled as she opened her eyes, she was instantly met with a beowulf, a beowulf that she found really cute and fluffy.

"Boop! hahaha." she said as she gently poked it's nose, But with another snap of salem's fingers, the creature of grimm turned around and ran towards the vast forest, leaving Ruby slightly disappointed that the wolf did not even bother to have any interaction with her.

"Good work child." Salem told the toddler, and much to Ruby's pleasure, this was the first time Salem didn't immediately tell her to prepare for more training. Was this finally the end of the training?Can she finally res- "Again Ruby."

of course not...

...

Salem was quite satisfied with the progress that Ruby seemed to be making, even for a newly started trainee, Ruby was making a considerable number of improvements to her powers, she can easily detect Grimm if she focused her powers on her right eye. "That's enough for today Ruby." She said, much to Ruby's relief.

Sadly for little Ruby though, she wasn't as enthusiastic as she normally was, simply because of how exhausted she was. "ok..." She said as she walked towards Salem.

Salem herself always enjoyed walking in the woods, no matter how short the walk was. It was something she could always appreciate, but now, for some reason, she just couldn't. She herself did not know why, but there was the vague feeling of guilt filling her heart, and that was a feeling she rarely ever felt in her life. She soon looked by her side to see young Ruby walking next to her, exhaustion clear in her eyes. "Is something wrong Ruby?" She asked, hoping to know if Ruby is somehow related to her current mood.

"No...nothing is wrong." Ruby replied, not sounding convincing at all, It was clear to Salem that there were things that the girl was holding back, but Salem decided to go against her own will and left Ruby to think without asking her further questions, so they both kept on their way, not uttering any word.

Salem did not notice that Ruby opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, it took Ruby a couple of minutes to finally decide what she wanted to say.

"Salem...Are you still mad at me?" Was the unexpected question Ruby asked. Salem dreaded such a question, simply because she herself did not know the answer to it. But Ruby herself did not stop there. "I just wanted to do something new Salem, it was my birthday and no one cared." Ruby added hesitantly.

Salem kept her silence for a while, thinking carefully of what to say, not only because she was afraid to hurt the child's feelings further, But also because she Herself was unsure of the true and honest answer for the question.

After carefully thinking of her answer, Salem came to a conclusion, the conclusion that yes, she is still mad and disappointed from Ruby's actions,and she was about to tell her the truth, no matter how much it hurts for the little girl. She deserved it.

"Ruby...No I'm not mad at you."

Wait! that's not it! Why did I say that?! Salem thought to herself in shock, Why in the name of gods did she not say the truth?! Sadly for her, she immediately noticed how Ruby smiled brightly at her with the smile that no one from their group can ever resist admiring. Even Tyrian could sometimes think that Ruby is cute when she smiled.

"Really?!" The toddler asked with excitement. Salem couldn't bring herself to change her answer after seeing the adorable reaction Ruby had, Even the most horrible of beings couldn't possibly dare to sadden Ruby, she had a certain talent for making everything better just by being happy self. "Y-yes Ruby, I'm not mad anymore."

Salem was suddenly forced to a stop as her legs were held in place by little Ruby giving her a hug. "Thank you salem!" The toddler said as she gave Salem a tight hug.

The rest of their way was mainly quiet, except for the sound of Ruby's feet hitting the ground as she skipped in excitement, happy that her mentor and motherly figure had forgiven her. Clearly now she had all the reasons to be her happy and cheerful self, instead of being a bit silent and gloomy like she was the past few days.

...

Salem was quite content with how her day went so far. She made considerable progress with Ruby, she had the whole castle to herself as all of team WTCH was out on assignments, she only had to dress Ruby and put her to sleep, which proved to be easier than what she anticipated.

She had a lot of time left of the night, so she decided to use it all to get some precious sleep, which proved to be one of Salem's few hobbies, other than killing all living creatures that is.

After changing her clothes from her favorite nightgown into a purple Robe, she laid down on the bed, putting her head on the soft pillow and covering her legs with her soft blanket. She was finally ready for the pleasure of a good sleep.

*knock knock*

Salem's eyes snapped open by the sound of knocking on her door. "What do you want Ruby?" She said, her voice just loud enough for Ruby to hear. "I want to come in." Ruby answered. Salem sighed before answering. "Fine, come in."

Ruby turned the door handle and slowly pushed the door open, she was met by Salem sitting on her bed, looking straight at her. "What do you want, Child?" Salem asked, as if she doesn't already know what's about to happen.

"I- I can't sleep." Ruby hesitated. Salem motioned for her to come closer, which is exactly what she did.

"And what do you expect me to do Ruby?". Much to Salem's luck, It was still early in the night, which meant that even if she had to deal with Ruby for a little while longer, she would still get a nice amount of sleep.

"C-Can I...Can we, maybe we ca-" "Spill it out already child." Salem interrupted, Ruby then took a deep breath before speaking out. "Can I sleep next to you!"

What on earth did she just ask? Salem thought to herself. "Ruby, can you say that again?" She ordered, and soon enough Ruby spoke out again. "Can I please sleep next to you, I'm scared!"

Salem couldn't even start to say how much she hated the request Ruby had just made, The answer is definitely no, no and no again. "What in the name of dust are you afraid of? There's no one here except for the two of us."

Ruby kept swaying nervously in place, trying to think of how to convince the Grimm goddess to approve of her wish. She was truly scared as there was no one in the castle except for the two of them, and the fact that their rooms are very far apart didn't help either, she simply felt unsafe because no one was close enough to make her feel the other way around.

"That's why I'm scared, I want to be close to someone while I sleep, or else I have bad dreams." Ruby pleaded her case.

Salem sighed, how is she going to deal with this now? "Ruby, you can't sleep, right?" She asked, Ruby replied with a nod. "Are you absolutely certain, Ruby?" She asked again, just to make sure. Ruby replied with another vigorous nod. "Fine then, you can sleep on the floor next to me." Salem offered.

"B-but I can't sleep on the floor Salem, it's hard and it would annoy me!" Ruby explained. Salem herself was shocked, how does this girl have the audacity to reject such a generous offer? She would have normally killed any being that would dare to request of her such a thing, but now not only did she approve of the request, the girl was also not happy with the result!

"And what on Remnant am I supposed to do then?!" Salem was starting to lose her patience, Ruby or not doesn't matter, she wouldn't ever let this child get the better of her!

Or so she thought...

...

"Goodnight ,Salem!" Ruby said enthusiastically as she covered herself with her own small blanket she had brought from her room. "Goodnight..." Salem replied as she rested her head on her pillow, prepared to make the most out of her sleep, even if someone somehow managed to convince her to sleep in the same bed, that someone being Ruby of course.

She soon started to finally drift to sleep, not thinking about anything, she was ready to just rest... "Salem..."

Goddamnit... She thought to herself as her eyes snapped open, revealing that Ruby was staring at her. "What do you want child?" She asked, annoyed. "Can you tell me a story?"

What on Remnant is this girl up to? How can she dare to ask such things from the Grimm queen herself?! Salem thought as she sighed. "Fine, there was a small Grimm that got big and ate humans, end of story, goodnight." She tried her best to sum up her already short story before quickly trying to go back to sleep.

"Bahaha, that's horrible!" Ruby was never going to be satisfied with such a short and bold story. "Salem, pleaaaase can you tell me a longer story." Ruby begged.

Salem's eyes started twitching madly. She sighed as she silently got up from her own bed, moving towards her nightstand and opening a drawer, soon enough she pulled a purple and black colored book before closing the drawer again, she then made her way back to the bed and sat down next to Ruby. "Listen Ruby, If I'm going to tell you a story then it will be a real one that happened in history, and you probably won't like the ending." Salem clarified.

"It's okay! I still want to hear it." Ruby replied as she scooched closer to Salem. Salem herself then opened the book and started reading the story that she wrote herself.

"Once upon a time, before dust or even the relics of powers were bestowed upon Remnant, there was the Grimm and only the Grimm, no man nor woman stepped foot on Remnant, until the two holy gods finally came to a conclusion, a conclusion to bring their powers together for one final creation, that creation was what you now call, humans."

"Do you mean like me?" Ruby wondered, Salem nodded before motioning with her hand for Ruby to stop talking.

"As you know now, Grimm were the original beings that occupied this world, and they had no problem sharing this world with humans, as long as they were prepared for their emotions to be used as energy for the Grimm, and to not try to overtake their place as the superior being "

"So they didn't fight humans for no reason like they are doing now?" Ruby asked again, Salem was surprised to be asked such question from a mere toddler.

"No Ruby, they only fought if they needed to in past times, Now let's continue." She said as she watched the toddler paying full attention to every small detail that escaped her lips.

"The humans on the other hand weren't content with living the harsh survival life like how every creature is supposed to. But they couldn't ever do anything about the superior Grimm, until the discovery of arguably the most important resource mankind has ever seen, dust."

"And then what happened?" Ruby question, so immersed in the story that the worry on her face was clearly visible.

"And then it all started, the humans wanted to clear out enough space so they can start their own societies, so they used their newly found weapon to push the grimm back, thinking that it was an act that the creatures of grimm will take lightly, but they were wrong, as the Grimm developed a natural instinct to attack humans on sight, resulting in the fights and massacres that happen nearly everyday now."

Ruby's eyes widened with fear as she thought of what Salem was referring to. "But it was just a misunderstanding!" Ruby claimed.

Salem was taken by surprise from the girl's claim. "What do you mean Ruby?" She asked.

"I mean that the humans just wanted more space so they could feel safe! And the Grimm thought they wanted to destroy them all, It was all just a misunderstanding, can't they just make up and stop fighting?!" Was Ruby's clear opinion on the matter.

Salem had no idea of how to reply to the girl's hopeful thoughts, but sadly she seemed like she could never have her way in a world like this, and especially on a topic like this one, she was simply far too innocent for such a cruel world. "I'm sorry Ruby, but no they can't...Grimm will never stop fighting humans from now on, it's in their nature now."

"But can't they just change?" Ruby wondered, tiredness clearly starting t take a hold of her as she yawned.

"No Ruby, there is no way this will stop, I'm sorry." Salem said, apologizing as if she was somehow involved in the matter, she had no idea how Ruby could make her go as far as apologizing, especially for something she had nothing to do with, this young girl was truly remarkable.

Salem got off of her bed, moving back to her nightstand to store her book back in its place. And once she did that, she expected to turn around to see the young toddler ready to ask more questions, yet when she did turn around, she only saw Ruby collapsed on the bed, drooling and in deep sleep.

A smile forced it's way to Salem's mouth as she moved closer to cover up the girl with her small blanket that was knitted by Hazel himself. And after she finished that, she soon found herself collapsed and tired on her own side of the bed, finally ready to get a good night's sleep.

* * *

 **Aaand done! I hope you enjoyed this! writing 2 Chapters in 2 days is always a challenging thing to do, but thankfully I got it this time!**

 **Nothing much to say here except for reminding you that you have a chance to get your own bonus episode! just send me a suggestion on what you want the chapter to be about, and If I like it more than the other suggestions then I'll choose it, the only condition is that what you send has to be related to the world of 'Little Grimm Riding Hood'**

 **By the way, I'll use some of my free time to actually go back and fix any grammar mistakes I made in the previous chapters, so if you get a lot of update notifications I apologize in advance.**

 **Critique is welcome and Reviews are much appreciated! Have a good day.**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	11. Bonus Chapter: Parties And Ice Cream!

**Wassuuuup, welcome back to another chapter, I remind you that it is a bonus, BUT here is the thing, this chapter is actually 100% cannon, so even if it's technically a bonus, I still want you to know that this stuff actually happens in the story.**

 **Special thanks to 'Sani2341' for suggesting the chapter, and thanks to everyone else that gave me suggestions, another bonus chapter will released after we reach chapter 20 of the main story-line, so if you think that you might have any ideas for the next one, start thinking about it from right now :)**

 **Special thanks for 'Merlin Pranks101' who has become the regular beta-reader for the story.**

 **I will remind you one more time, that even though this is a bonus chapter, it's still 100% cannon. And Without further ado, I present to you Little Grimm Riding Hood.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Bonus Chapter: Parties and Ice Cream**_

* * *

 ***6 Months after Ruby's Birthday***

"Come on Ruby, you're going to be late!" Cinder said as she quickly took out Ruby's clothes from her wardrobe. Today was the day that Ruby was waiting for for nearly two whole weeks now.

"I'm coming!" Ruby yelled as she quickly entered the room, closing the door behind her.

"What took you so long?!" Cinder asked as she motioned for Ruby to come closer. Ruby complied and used her semblance to find herself standing right in front of Cinder.

"I needed to pee!" She explained as Cinder started taking her clothes of, she then dressed her in an outfit she bought specifically for this occasion.

She dressed her in a short purple skirt, and she was also wearing a no-sleeve white t-shirt, but it was covered by a red sleeveless light jacket which was colored in her new favorite color, red.

"Ok Ruby you're ready, let's go." She said as she basically dragged Ruby with her.

Ruby was excited about this day since she heard that somehow, Cinder managed to convince Salem that Ruby should go out to the park once every month, and on this occasion it was going to be the day of witch her friend's birthday. She also made sure to pick out the perfectest of perfect gifts for her friend, Yang.

She was only a bit concerned when she heard that she will not attend the party with any of her friends since they somehow are afraid of getting recognized by someone they met before, she didn't remember his name, but it somehow reminded her of the name of a bird.

The only way Cinder managed to convince Salem to let Ruby go was by assuring her that Ruby will be completely safe, as she will be accompanied by one of Cinder's most well trained allies, her name was Neo. Ruby herself wasn't certain if she would like that girl, but Cinder assured her that she will be nice to her, and Cinder never lies to her so she had no reason to doubt her words, but she still felt the need to confirm with Cinder.

"Cinder, are you sure your friend will be nice?" Ruby asked for probably the tenth time this week. "Yes Ruby, she was nice when you asked me a week ago, she was nice when you asked me five minutes ago, so five minutes from now, when you ask me if she's nice, my answer is going to be. 'She's still nice, and you're still going with her' " Cinder confirmed as they finally exited the castle.

They made their way through the forest until they finally reached the wall of bushes that separates the forest from the rest of Remnant, Ruby was confused on how this wall worked until Cinder explained to her that it was infact a magic gateway made by Salem herself, a gateway that only she and her friends could use without getting hurt.

Cinder released Ruby's arm and then made sure all her clothes were clean and proper. "Ok Ruby, Here we are, Neo will be waiting for you on the other side, remember, she's in charge." She said as she gave Ruby a small pat on the back and then watched her walk through the bushes.

...

Ruby opened her eyes to be immediately met by an extremely short teenage girl, the feature that stood out the most about her is the fact that her hair was equally split into two colors, the first one being dark brown, the second being pink with multiple white highlights. She also had Hetochromatic eyes matching her hair, the difference is that they were on opposite sides of the hair, the pink eye was under the brown part of the hair, and the brown eye was under the pink part of the hair.

She was also wearing a very unique outfit compared to what most people around them were wearing. It consisted of a long black legging covering all of her right leg, and on her other leg were long pink socks with white stripes drawn horizontally over them, covering her leg almost to her knee. Then there were the white shorts she was wearing, held in place by a belt colored in both pink and black, there was also the plain black T-shirt that was short enough to reveal most of her stomach, It was also covered with a white blazer with short sleeves, she was also wearing a small pink watch. Lastly, were the pink sneakers that she was sporting.

Ruby noticed how the girl immediately started walking towards her with a nice smile on her face. She then stopped in front of Ruby and knelt down, Ruby was a bit confused until she saw the teenager take out a scroll from her pocket, she then started writing down something on the scroll.

Ruby herself had very limited reading knowledge, she could only read basic words because of her studies with Watts, she then noticed how the Pink haired girl handed her the scroll, she looked at it, trying to figure out what any word meant, and after some time she finally succeeded in understanding the sentence.

*Are you ready to party?* along with a peace sign was what she wrote on the scroll, Ruby was confused on why the girl didn't just speak.

"Why didn't you just ask me that?" She asked, The girl then smiled before taking her scroll back and starting to write something once more. *I'm mute, I can't talk.* Along with an emoji of a man putting one finger on his mouth, as if he was hushing someone.

Ruby's curiosity got the better of her as she asked. "Does that suck?" She asked casually, not realizing that her question was pretty vague. The teen took back her scroll once more and started typing.

*Not really, now give me your hand and close your eyes.* Was what Ruby barely managed to read, she then looked at Neo to see her extending her hand with a gentle smile on her face. Ruby hesitantly closed her eyes, and as soon as she could even feel Neo's hand, she felt as if everything around her disappeared for a split second.

She opened her eyes only to see that she was somehow, against all odds, right in front of the park where the birthday part will take place. "How did you do that!?" She asked in disbelief.

Neo Chuckled before taking out her scroll from her pocket once more and writing. *It's my Semblance.* She wrote with a face of someone sticking his tongue out next to the words.

"Woooow, your semblance is awesome!" Ruby said. She then looked at Neo as she wrote on her scroll again. *I know! Now let's go find your friend.*

...

After finally finding Ruby's friend, Neo told Ruby that she would be sitting somewhere alone, eating some ice cream until Ruby was ready to leave, she also told her to not go out of the park no matter what happens and that she will be keeping an eye on her.

Ruby made her way to her blonde friend, she was talking with a man wearing a simple white blazer and black pants. As she got closer Yang noticed that her friend had made it to the party.

Ruby was suddenly crushed by what was probably the tightest hug she ever received. "Ruby! I'm so glad you made it!" Said a very happy Yang. "I-I'm happy too, but could you please stop chocking me?" Ruby pleaded with the last bit of air she had left in her lungs. "Come on, I want you to meet my family!" Yang said as she pulled Ruby from her arm, taking her to the person she was talking to earlier. "Ruby, this is my uncle, Qrow!" She said as she pointed at Qrow. "Qrow, This is my friend, Ruby!" She added, introducing the two to each other.

The man smiled. "Hi there kiddo, nice to meet you. "He said. He then turned to face his niece. "Yang, I'm going to talk to your father for a bit, have fun." He said as he grabbed a cup of apple juice from the table next to him, thinking it was some sort of alcoholic drink.

Yang waved at her uncle as he left them and went to talk to Taiyang. She then enthusiastically pulled Ruby towards the table full of all kinds of candy. "Eat up Ruby, This is all for you and my other friends, be right at home and I'll be right back!" Yang said as she left Ruby to go quickly greet other party guests.

Ruby on the other hand looked at the heaven in front of her, her mouth was dripping only by thinking of how each individual piece of candy would taste like, There were plates full of lolipops, others with chocolate bars, but the majority were plates that were full of all kinds of sweets, lastly however was the one plate that Ruby couldn't keep her eyes off of, a plate that was filled with her favorite snack, chocolate chip cookies. Ruby already knew that she won't be showing anything on this table mercy.

Yang came back shortly after greeting what was probably the last of the guests that she and her family had invited, the sight she found in front of her was truly breathtaking, little Ruby was laying on the ground with her hands resting on her stomach, what was even more shocking is that probably over half the candy on the table were absolutely demolished, especially the cookies.

"Ruby! Did you just eat all of that alone!?" Yang asked in disbelief as she saw Ruby stuff the last cookie in her mouth. Ruby tilted her head, looking at yang before talking. "Y-yeth." Ruby replied with her mouth full, a bit of shame visible from her eyes.

Yang walked until she reached Ruby, she then gave her a hand, getting her up from the ground. "That. Is. AWESOME!" Yang said suddenly as she gave Ruby a friendly punch on the shoulder.

As they stood together, Yang's uncle came by to check on her, he noticed how half the candy was already gone. "Geez kiddo, you really like sweets huh? Tell you what, if you convince Yang to get a haircut, I'll buy you all the candy you want." He said jokingly.

Yang immediately covered as much as she can cover from her hair as if she was hiding it. "No way! Nobody can touch my hair!" She clarified as she stared intimidatingly back at her uncle.

"Relax kid, I was just joking." He said as he patted her on the shoulder, he then grabbed another drink before turning around and taking his leave.

"Come on Ruby! I'll help you finish the rest!" Yang offered before they both started to eat what remained on the table after Ruby's eating spree, Ruby's appetite was also clearly not affected by how full she was.

After finishing almost all the candy, it was finally time for Yang to open her birthday present. Ruby watched patiently as Yang opened all kinds of presents, like the one her uncle gave her, which was a small toy of a yellow motorcycle, her father on the other hand got her two yellow boxing gloves that she seemed to be extremely excited to use. Finally though, it was Ruby's present that would be opened next.

Yang tore off the red wrapping, excited to see what her friend bought her, when she finally got the wrapping off, she found a small yellow box, when she opened it, it revealed an orange scarf. "oh, Ruby! This is so nice!" Yang said as she quickly wrapped the scarf around her neck.

"Really?! It's not boring?! You like it?" Ruby asked all at once, it seems like she was worried that Yang might find her gift too dull. Yang smiled. "No Ruby, I really love it." she said as she gave Ruby a hug.

...

Ruby noticed how most guests were now leaving the party, she also noticed how Neo was pointing to her wrist, indicating that they will have to go soon. That's why Ruby decided to make the most out of her time with yang since they won't be seeing each other for at least a month.

She was about to speak but before she could do that, Yang herself spoke out. "Ruby, I wanted to ask you something if you don't mind." She said in a serious tone. Ruby replied with a nod as they both sat down on the swings that they had met each other at for the first time.

Yang hesitated before she finally asked. "Ruby, why is one of your eyes black?" She asked, feeling guilt almost as soon as the words escaped her mouth. To her surprise though, Ruby did not seem to mind the question at all as she replied. "Well, I don't know...My friend keeps telling me I was born with it."

"What do you mean by 'friend' " Yang asked curiously. Ruby then casually replied. "Salem! The woman I live with!" Ruby said, she then suddenly felt terrified as she remembered rule number one of going out of the castle. 'Never say anything about Salem.'

Ruby froze in place, hoping that somehow Yang didn't hear what just escaped her lips unintentionally. But sadly for the redhead, Yang understood everything now, she definitely knew what Ruby was talking about now.

"You mean your mom?" Yang asked Casually. Ruby wasted literally no second as she quickly replied "YES!" Making Yang nearly fall off of her Swing. She wanted to take no chance of Yang changing her mind about the matter, so she just went along with whatever she said.

"Geez Rubes, okay. But why don't you just call her mom?" She asked, curious to why Ruby would call her mother a 'friend'

Ruby replied, making sure to not let anything about Salem slip like it just had seconds ago. "I don't know...do you think I should call her mom?" Ruby asked. Yang then replied. "Well of course you should, if she's your mom then you should call her by that." said Yang.

Ruby thought about it for a moment until she came to a conclusion. "Ok, I'll start calling her that, thank you Yang." She thanked her friend. Soon, Ruby noticed how Neo was finally walking towards the two of them.

"Oh, it looks like I'm going to leave, Yang." Ruby said with a shade of disappointment. Yang refused to let that ruin their day as she said. "It's okay Ruby, we're going to meet again next month right?" She asked, Ruby replied with a nod as she hopped off the swing.

Soon Neo stood in front of her, handing her the scroll she uses to communicate with. *Time to go.* Was what was written on the scroll. Ruby gave Yang a quick hug and said goodbye before leaving with Neo.

Yang stood in front of the swings, waving at Ruby until she disappeared out of sight. Her uncle then came and asked her. "Had fun, kiddo?" She looked at him with a grin and replied. "More than you, old man." He laughed and replied. "Says the girl who just had her birthday, say what was your friend's name again?" He asked.

"Ruby, her name is Ruby, and her mother is called...uhh, I think she was called Sandy or something like that."

...

After going through the wall of bushes once more, Ruby found herself back in the forest, Cinder already waiting right in front of her. "Had fun, ruby?" The young woman asked, Ruby then smiled and walked towards her. "Yes, tons!" She replied.

She and Cinder soon found themselves opening the huge door to the castle, and as soon as they entered, they were greeted by Salem. "Hello Ruby, I trust that you behaved well today?" Salem said as they closed the gigantic door behind them. "Yes mom, I did and I also had a lot of fun." Ruby said as she walked further inside the castle.

"What?!" Both Cinder and Salem Yelled. Ruby then casually repeated herself. "I said yes and that I also had a lot of fun." she said, not realizing that they both were referring to something else.

Salem quickly walked towards Ruby, grabbing her hand and pulling her behind her. "Come with me now, child." She said as she quickly made her way to Ruby's room, leaving Cinder alone in the hall to wonder what on Remnant did Ruby just say.

Soon enough, both Ruby and Salem were in the child's Room. "Ruby, Since when do you call me that?" Salem asked. Ruby answered. "Just now, should I not have?" she asked, worried that she might have done something wrong.

Salem was about to speak but Ruby herself added more to her answer. "Aren't you the woman I live with? So shouldn't you be my mom?" Ruby asked, not realizing how sensitive the topic actually is. Salem sighed as she took a seat on the empty chair.

She thought of anything to say to little Ruby, she even opened her mouth a couple of times to speak, but whenever she was about to say something she would realize that it would only aggravate the problem. "Listen to me, Ruby. You absolutely must never call me by that name again, especially when someone is around, just like Cinder was now."

Ruby then thought for a moment before answering. "Well, can I call you that if no one is around?" She asked.

Salem knew how to deal with Ruby, and she knew that she was as stubborn as a mule, this was probably the best she was getting out of Ruby, and the smartest thing she could do is go along with it, at least until Ruby grows out of it. "Fine, You can only call me that when absolutely no one is around, and don't use it too often, understood?" Salem cleared, Ruby soon replied with a nod.

"Thanks mom!"

* * *

 **Aaaand cut! I really enjoyed writing this bonus more than I thought I would. Thanks again for Sani2341 for suggesting this, and thanks to everyone else who sent me suggestions. We'll see who gets the chapter next time, but that's at least 10 main chapters away, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.**

 **I wanted to tell you guys that I went back and fixed all mistakes I could find in Chapter 1 of the story, it is more pleasant to read now, so if you'd like to enjoy it once more, there are 300 extra words, and a ton of fixed grammar mistakes. As for chapter 2, well I just fixed the major grammar mistakes I found, soon I'll start fixing smaller mistakes and even improve the chapter as a whole.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, remember it is indeed a bonus, but still 100% canon. I'll see you people in a few days with another chapter for the main story, please Review as it is extremely appreciated, and critique is also welcomed, Thanks for reading.**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	12. Chapter 11: Training And Weird Chatting

**Hey, what is up playas, how you doing? Now before you kill me, I am sorry, sorry and sorry again that this took a long while, but my week has been REALLY weird to say the least, first I had to deal with an ankle injury because of a stupid tackle in football, then I have 2 car accidents in a row! Then I notice how I had a small yet annoying writer's block.**

 **Yet despite all that, thankfully I am okay and still my usual optimistic self! Yay!**

 **Before we begin, I want to tell you a pun that I made myself, I don't know if someone said it before me, but I still though of it myself so it counts. What do you say to a pokemon that takes too long to choose what shoes he wants to buy? "Will you please Pikatchu!?"**

 **Get it? Pikatchu/ pick a shoe. (kill me)**

 **Anyway, excuse the punny start, I had nothing else to say but I still love blabbering before I start a chapter, so I left that in there.**

 **Actually, I should say that I fixed all the mistakes in Chapter 2 and added about 200 extra words in it, should be a better read now, I will fix a previous chapter with each new chapter I post, that is how it will work if you are wondering.**

 **Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy the new chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 11: Training And Weird chatting.**_

* * *

"Are You absolutely sure about what you are saying Hazel?" Salem asked, hoping for any answer in the world but a 'Yes'

All the group of villains were gathered around the meeting table, taking advantage of the fact that the now five year old girl is sleeping. Hazel looked down on his feet, as if he himself did not want the true answer to escape his mouth. "Yes ma'am, I am sure that they indeed have retired." He answered.

This was bad, no, this was above bad, this was simply horrible. The white fang leader named Ghira has officially stepped down from leadership of the white fang, the news say that he stepped down because of an accidental death in one of the peaceful protests of the White Fang, but Salem and her associates knew the truth, he stepped down because he discovered the secret arrangements between her own group and an amount of White Fang members who were willing to betray him.

Salem herself did not care for the man's retirement, the only problem would be if the new leader is unwilling to cooperate, which wouldn't be a problem by itself, but what would make it a problem is if they do not manage to keep the deals going behind his or her back.

"Well, what the hell are we going to do now then? We can't just hope for the new leader to cooperate with us." Cinder announced, looking around for affirmation that her allies agree with her.

"That's not what we are going to do." Salem said as she interrupted whatever thing Cinder was about to add. "Hazel, I suspect that you remember about Adam Taurus." She then added.

Hazel wondered who's name that might be until he finally remembered. "Yes ma'am, I do remember him, he is the one that opened the negotiations between us and the White Fang."

Salem's face expression soon turned into a cunning one as she said. "Good, you are to go find him, make him understand that if he cooperates with us then he will be rewarded handsomely, and that if he doesn't, that we will make his life a living nightmare."

"It will be done ma'am." Hazel said as he excused himself from the table, hoping to not waste anymore time.

Salem's eyes then shifted to Watts. "Watts, I would like of you to continue your mission in Mistral, find out as many secrets about the headmaster there, we must have enough enough information about him before we proceed with our plans.

She watched as he nodded and stood up from his chair. "You will not be disappointed M'Lady." He said as he took his leave.

Salem then turned her head towards Tyrian. "You, dear Tyrian. Will be continuing your search for the fall maiden, she can't hide forever after all." She said as she watched a mischievous smile form on his face. She wasted no time as she added. "We need her alive Tyrian, Cinder can't get her power if she dies." She watched as his expression turned to slight disappointment, but he then quickly brushed it off as he smiled and excused himself from the room.

Finally, she looked at Cinder, who was the only one awaiting any orders. She listened carefully as Salem said. "Cinder, I think it is finally time for you to start what we planned with Ruby, our enemies are getting stronger everyday, we can't hope to keep her if she can't take care of herself."

Cinder's stared worriedly at Salem. "I- Do you really think she's ready Salem? She's barely five years old." She asked.

"If she can't protect herself out there without us, then how is she supposed to be trusted in the future to handle difficult missions?" Salem said, she then added. " And it is her destiny to be a natural fighter, she will master it quickly, just bide your time and have patients with her.

Cinder nodded as she left her seat and headed for the door, she was however stopped by Salem's words. "And Cinder, I expect a full report on her by next morning." Cinder nodded one last time before leaving the room and heading for Ruby's room.

Salem herself started planning on how she will deal with the sudden news that came from Hazel, as long as she can have control over a number of white fang members it would be enough for her to have as much dust as she needs, yet if she did not control any then the supply of Dust she had would quickly dwindle until it was nothing, which would make a very serious problem for her allies since they need dust to fight at their best.

...

Ruby had no idea why Cinder suddenly woke her up from her deep sleep. furthermore, she had no Idea why they were both walking in the forest this early in the morning, and to add to her confusion even more, Cinder was walking with two long sticks in her hand.

Little Ruby's curiosity got the better of her as she asked. "Cinder, why are you carrying these two sticks?"

Cinder grinned as she replied. "These aren't called sticks Ruby, these are called staffs, we use them for training novices, like you." They then both finally stopped in front of a beautiful small lake that Ruby accidentally discovered before when she was using her semblance.

"What? Training? But I don't train with you, I train with Salem and Watts." Ruby said as she watched Cinder drop a bag full of food, bandages and water.

"Exactly, Salem trains you to use your powers, such as communicating with Grimm and sensing their location, Watts is your tutor, he taught you most of what you know, but now it's going to be my responsibility to train you in hand to hand combat."

After hearing that, a question immediately popped up into the child's thoughts. "And what will Tyrian teach me? She asked as Cinder approached her the her arm extended, giving her one of the practice staffs she had with her.

"Tyrian is gonna teach you how to use firearms when you get older, but now let us focus on teaching you the basics of fighting." She said as Ruby finally took a hold of one of the staffs.

"But how do you use this thing? It's not even pointy, it is a piece of wood." Ruby wondered, it seemed silly for her to practice with such a dull object, especially since she hears about how her friends fight with amazing weapons and styles, she once saw a small duel between Cinder and Tyrian which simply left her both breathless and speechless, even though they were just carrying a sword each, Ruby got fascinated just by seeing how much a small metal sword can do, she grew to love weapons ever since. She even once got a magazine full of weapons pictures as a small gift from Hazel.

"We have to start off slow, Ruby. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, you'll get to use more weapons the older you get." Cinder cleared as Ruby grudgingly nodded.

"Good, now let us start with the basics. What do you remember about the fight between me and Tyrian?" She asked, hoping to figure out how much her trainee actually knows.

"That you wooped his butt of course! It was so funny!" She said cheerfully as she swung her staff, trying to imitate how Cinder fought like that day. She still remembered how Cinder buried his tail in ice, which resulted in him jumping around because of how cold he was.

Cinder herself couldn't help but chuckle herself at the unexpected response, but she still had yet to get an actual answer to her question. "What do you remember other than that? Do you remember anything specific about how we fought each other that day?"

The child shook her head negatively. Cinder sighed as she now knew that she had to start with the very beginning, she had hoped that Ruby's constant questions about weapons would have brought her at least some basic knowledge.

"Fine, we're starting from the very beginning. First things first, you need to know how to actually defend yourself before you can learn to attack an enemy, and that is why you will be blocking my next few attacks, but first I want you to take a combat stance." Cinder ordered as she saw Ruby give a determined nod and take a combat stance.

Cinder had to stop herself from Laughing. Ruby's stance had so many flaws, it was hard to count them. She was proudly standing, both her feet close enough together that she would probably trip and fall if she takes a step forwards, then there was the fact that her hand was so close to her chest that it would actually be more likely that she hits herself with her own weapon than defend herself, her elbows seemed to be glued together, she was also pointing her staff upwards for reasons that Cinder had yet to understand. Lastly was the fact that she was trying her best to show a threatening face, yet in truth it was so silly that it almost looked cute, she couldn't even scare a bug with that face.

Cinder took a few steps towards Ruby and then knelt on the ground. "First of all Ruby, you shouldn't have your feet so close to one another, it will limit your range of movement and even make you trip if not careful." She said as she used her hands to push her legs apart. She then stood up and continued to give advice to little Ruby. "You should also put one foot in front of the other. preferably your left foot because you are right handed." She watched as Ruby took one step forwards with one foot, leaving the other exactly how it was.

"Good, now I want you to spread your elbows apart, you can't hold the staff properly if you can't move your hand freely." she said as Ruby made some space between her two elbows. "Great! Now you should actually put the weapon in front of you instead of pointing it at the sky, what is the point of that anyway?" Cinder added with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice. She then took a few steps back and looked at Ruby. She immediately noticed how much better her stance is. "Perfect, now I'll start swinging some quick jabs in your direction, try to block as many as you can." Cinder said as she took a combat stance herself, she noticed how Ruby nodded with excitement, showing confidence in her own abilities.

Cinder started with the training, she kept acting as if she was trying to hit Ruby, while in truth she was actually just moving the staff close enough for Ruby to think that she might get hit. She watched as Ruby managed to parry two of the ten strikes. Normally a Beginner would get most of the strikes, but she quickly remembered how Ruby was just five years old.

"Good job Ruby, keep it up and we will move on to the next lesson after you manage to block all ten strikes." Cinder said as she prepared to repeat the training sequence with her apprentice.

...

"Yes!" Ruby celebrated before Cinder could even speak. She had finally blocked all ten strikes after what seemed to be an eternity of repeating the same training sequence. The advice that Cinder gave her surely helped, she told her to always keep one eye on her opponent's hand, because that would help her spot the direction of which the attack is coming from before it's too close. Another helpful advice was to always keep the perfect space between her and her foe, getting too close could result in her not spotting an attack in time, being too far could result in her not having enough weapon reach to defend or attack if her opponent's weapon is longer.

"Good job Ruby, now let's take a short break, want to eat?" Cinder offered as she pulled out two sandwiches. "Yes please!" Ruby replied as she dropped her staff and eagerly took one sandwich from Cinder.

As they both sat down on a log and started eating, Cinder noticed how Ruby's eyes never looked away from her. "Something on your mind Ruby?" She asked whilst taking another bite from her food.

"How did you learn to fight?" Ruby asked. Cinder did not expect such a question coming from the child. "Why do you want to know?" She wondered. Ruby herself looked unsure, but she then replied. "I just want to know how come you learned to do all this cool fighting, did someone teach you?" She added.

Cinder's eyes widened as she though of the answer, it made unwanted memories flood her mind. "I-I started with my father, he taught me most of the basic rules." She answered, her reply only resulting in more confusion for the little redhead girl next to her.

"Wait, where is your dad then?" She asked, not realizing how much pressure she put on Cinder with such a question. Cinder herself knew that Ruby is only a child, a child that is more likely than not going to forget whatever answer she gave.

"I uhh- We don't really talk anymore..." Was Cinder's vague answer. She watched as Ruby took another bite from her food, nearly finishing it whilst Cinder forgot to eat her own.

"What do you mean? Is he bad?" Ruby added to the list of questions she asked today. Cinder herself took a bite from her food so she can earn herself some time to think of an answer. "No no, he wasn't bad...He just got angry really easily." Cinder replied, but she quickly added something before Ruby could ask another question. "Ruby, can we talk about something else?" Cinder requested as she continued to eat.

"Ok...why did you want to learn to fight?" Ruby asked, not realizing that the new question is somehow related to the last question she asked.

Cinder hesitated before she replied. "I wanted power to protect my...mom. She raised even more confusion in the silver eyed girl's mind, now she knew that Cinder had a father and mother that she never heard about. "Protect her from who?" Ruby asked as she finally finished her sandwich.

'From my asshole of a father.' was what Cinder desperately wanted to say, yet she sadly couldn't. "From bad people Ruby, very bad people who kept treating her badly."

Cinder said as she remembered the horrors of her father, a good man who was sadly overtaken by his love for alcohol. She remembered the horror she felt everyday when he came home, she remembered how he used to drunkingly beat her mother, and sometimes he would take it as far as to beat her. She remembered how he wanted her to learn how to defend herself, yet he did not know that she wanted to defend herself from no one other than him.

She remembered how she wanted power so she could protect her mother from him. And lastly, she remembered the night when he took it too far, the night when she lost both him and her mother.

"And what happened to those bad people?" Ruby asked with her ears eagerly waiting for Cinder's answer. Cinder's expression turned dark as she replied. "I dealt with them Ruby, I made them pay." She said as she finally finished her own food, she wasted no time as she quickly stood up and motioned for Ruby to come closer so they could continue their training.

As Cinder handed Ruby her staff, she listened as Ruby said. "I want to protect people like you did Cinder!" She said cheerfully, yet Cinder couldn't help but think of what would happen if little Ruby knew what she actually did to the so called 'Bad People' There was no doubt that she would quickly change her mind if she knew the truth of what Cinder had done.

"Alright Ruby, now I'll swing at you fifteen times instead of ten, Ready?" She asked, the reply she got from Ruby was a very determined-looking nod followed by Ruby taking her combat stance.

...

As Cinder and Ruby entered the castle, they were greeted by Salem. "I trust the training went well?" Salem asked immediately. Cinder nodded and said. "Yes, very well actually. She managed to block sixteen attacks in a row since I accidentally swung an extra strike."

"That is very decent, child. Keep up the good work." Salem said after shifting her eyes towards Ruby.

"I will! It was so fun! I even got to hit Cinder once." Ruby said excitedly as she took her shoes off. She then noticed how Salem was motioning for Cinder to leave them both alone. And then she was approached by the Grimm queen.

"Did you do what I told you to do?" Salem asked as she stood in front of the girl. "Yes, mom. I made sure that no Grimm would come close to us." She confirmed. Her mother told her to use her black colored eye to communicate with any Grimm around her. She was still young and could only talk to the common Beowulf, yet that was luckily the only kind of Grimm that infested the part of the forest they trained in.

"Good job child." Salem said as she gently patted little Ruby on the head. "Come on now, Watts is waiting for you so you can start your weekly studies." Salem said as she walked towards the door to the main hall with Ruby next to her.

Ruby's heart dropped as she was reminded that she will have to do the thing she hates doing the most, she had to study."Ugghh, do I have to?!"

* * *

 **Hey again! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, took me a while to write but that is just because I am a lazy bastard, anyway I will try to pump out another chapter before Monday, Cya later. Special thanks to 'merlin pranks101' who did not beta read the chapter, yet still gave me a nice idea that I implemented.**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**_


	13. Chapter 12: Attention Class!

**Hello, bonjour, hola, salaam, hallo, ciao, ola, namaste, ohayo, merhaba, szia, sannu, marhaba, jambo, ni hau, halo, al salam alaykoum.**

 **I just said hello in 17 different languages, beat that.**

 **Anyway, excuse the extra cringe intro and let's get on with it! I hope you enjoy another chapter from Little Grimm Riding Hood.**

 **WAIT, I wanted to answer this question actually, which was asked by a guest named "Trzn" He said. "When is she going to beacon?"**

 **The answer is (drum rolls please)**

 **Probably chapter 30-ish. As you might have noticed, I have about 5 chapters in each time period of Ruby's age, that leaves us with another 19 chapters (This one included)**

 **I am also warning you about the frequent Fourth wall breaking in this chapter. I just felt like being extra tonight.**

 **Pun of the chapter (Yes that is an actual thing we are doing now.): What does a southern American man do right before he dies? He Texas along to heaven. (please don't unfollow.)**

 **I hope that is cleared and please enjoy! Also, this chapter takes place right after where the last chapter ended.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 12: Attention Student!**_

* * *

"Yes Ruby, you know that you have to." Salem cleared as she left the main hall, Ruby holding hands with her.

"But Watts is so boriiiing." Ruby complained as she and her so called mother both made their way down the hall to her room so she could begin her weekly studies with her tutor, doctor watts.

"I heard that, you know..." A voice rang from behind Ruby. She looked behind her in terror as she wished the voice did not belong to who she though belongs too, yet sadly it was. Her tutor, doctor Watts heard her secretly mocking him, she knew she was in for a painful punishment, but how painful? Maybe he would be merciful and only give her a hundred pages of homework instead of two hundred as he did last time he punished her.

It was a week that she dreaded, the one when she had one hundred pages of homework, she received the punishment as a result of daydreaming during his explanation of the Grimm called 'Nevermore". She had to stay up all night, writing 'Nevermores are giant flying eagles, their strengths are blah blah blah, their weaknesses are blah blah blah. They also blah blah blah blah'

Well of course she did not exactly write 'Blah blah blah' but she was too lazy to remember what she actually wrote.

"Ah, Watts. Are you on your way to Ruby's room too?" Salem asked casually as Watts approached them with a hint of annoyance from what he had overheard Ruby say. Ruby herself was now practically hiding behind Salem.

"Yes ma'am, though to be honest I'd much prefer it if I could take Ruby to my laboratory for this day, I would find it much easier to explain what I want to teach her." He requested as he stopped in front of Salem.

After thinking carefully, Salem stepped aside, revealing the girl hiding behind her. "Very well, you take Ruby to your lab, but be careful and keep your eyes on her." Salem ordered as Ruby reluctantly walked towards Watts.

"Yes M'lady, she will be under my watch for the whole time." He assured his leader as he took his leave, Ruby walking right behind him towards the laboratory.

As they both entered, Ruby was greeted with a sight she never saw before. "Woaaaah." She said in awe. She saw the great amount of tubes filled with liquids of all kinds and colors, she also saw the huge amount of machines that were used for things she couldn't possibly comprehend yet. She was the first time actually excited to study with Watts. "What are we gonna do first!" She asked excitedly.

"Come and sit here." He said as he sat down on a chair, in front of his chair was a small round table and another chair. She excitedly sat down and waited for further instructions.

Watts relaxed, putting both of his feet on the table, one of them atop the other, he than laid back on the chair, staring at the ceiling before eventually resting an open book on top of his face to cover his eyes.

Ruby sat there curious, why was he doing nothing? Was this a test? Should she speak? What is she supposed to be doing? Is he going to ask her anything?

Those were some of the questions that flooded the little girl's mind. She did not take long to ask Watts what he was doing. "Watts, what are you doing?" She asked.

Watts sighed as he lifted the book from over his head and looked at Ruby unamused. "What does it look like girl? I'm resting." He answered before returning back to relaxing.

"But aren't we going to work today?" She asked curiously, she then watched as he sighed louder this time and quickly lifted his legs off the table and sat down normally.

"First of all, we don't 'work' we 'study', we aren't forcing you into child labor, please use proper vocabulary, I taught you better than that. Secondly and lastly, we aren't studying today, I have way too many things on my mind and I need a day off, we're staying here in my lab so no one would interrupt us.

Ruby immediately smiled with the news of her taking an off day. "Really! But wait, aren't you worried that I might tell Salem?" She asked. She watched as he immediately grinned.

"No, frankly because if you do that you'll have a thousand pages of homework." Ruby's heart nearly stopped when she heard what he said, she immediately replied. "No no! I won't tell anyone!"

The man grinned as he tried to go back into relaxing. "Good job girl, now find something to do for the next hour or two, I'll take a nap." He said as he rested his legs on the table once more.

"What are you thinking about?" He heard the girl ask, he looked at her once more to see her eagerly awaiting a response from him.

"Why do you care? Don't you want to take a day off?" He asked as he returned into a sitting position. He then watched as the girl smiled and said "Well, yes I do, but I want to know what you are thinking about too!"

Watts suddenly looked much more interested in the conversation than he was a few minutes before. " Truth is, this isn't any of your concern kid." He said, refusing to state what's on his mind.

"But I want to help people, like what Cinder does! If you tell me I can help you!" She stated, eager to prove how much of a hero she can be. Watts on the other hand was taken by a surprise from that statement, not because of the girl's wishes, but because of her thoughts on Cinder, he smiled as he thought of how he could use this to his advantage, even though he normally minded his own business, he had the strange hobby of always getting enjoyment from annoying Cinder, he had no idea why, but he just did.

He made the decision to play along, making Ruby actually think she is copying a hero, it might force Cinder to change her behavior around Ruby, which he was ought to get a laugh out of once or twice.

"Very well then, you will be hearing the tale of a doctor that was betrayed from his closest friend." he said, he soon noticed Ruby opening her mouth to speak, he quickly stopped her from uttering a word by saying. "Hush! If you interrupt me while speaking then I'll stop telling you the story." He cleared as he watched Ruby nod with her mouth shut.

"Good, now you see, I don't have the title doctor just for fun, I used to be the finest doctor anyone can go to, I pulled of the most ridiculously impossible surgeries, everyone felt safe in my hands, and I also had a helper, and a friend, he was my best friend since I graduated from college, he helped me in almost every surgery, he even preformed one on me once when I broke my arm, I was afraid that my steady hand would be affected and that I wasn't going to return like how I was before, yet he saved my career."

"Then how did he betray you?" She wondered, everything she heard until this point was praise for his friend even though he said that he betrayed him. Yet her question earned a slight hint of annoyance from her tutor.

"I was getting to that part, do not interrupt me again." He said with authority clear in his tone. "Even though we were both successful, he still did not have the reputation I had, he felt left out and unjustly below me, I always assured him that he was the same as me, yet he never listened." He paused before continuing, he clenched his fist as if he was remembering something that really bothered him. "One night, we had an emergency surgery, the patient was someone I had actually knew before, someone who I did not like one bit, in fact, I hated that person with all my heart. Yet I was not going to turn down a surgery that promised me riches like never before." He clarified.

Watts got up from the table and went to open a small mini fridge, grabbing a can of ice coffee and a box of apple juice. He then came back to Ruby and handed her the juice box. "Anyway, I preformed the surgery on the person and It went perfectly, just as expected." He watched as a smile formed on Ruby's face. "That's good!" She said.

This time Watts was seemingly unbothered by her interruption, he soon continued. "Not quite... you see, the man lost a lot of blood during the operation, which was no problem as I transfered some blood to him. The problem was with my friend." He paused and took a deep breath. "My friend had enough of being the second best. He purposefully gave me a bag full of the wrong blood type, which resulted in the patient dying a few days later." Watts paused again before continuing. "The bigger problem is that my friend announced to the public that I was the one who killed the man, just so he would tarnish my reputation and become the better doctor, and the worst part was that it worked, nobody wanted to come to me again, I even received threats that If I wouldn't quit my job, I would be hunted down." He kept talking, nearly forgetting that he was actually talking to Ruby.

"Anyway, I lost everything and wanted revenge, and that's why I'm here now." He said as he watched Ruby drink the last drop of juice left in the box.

"That's really naughty!" Ruby claimed as she finished her juice, she was then about to add something but the clock started ringing. "Ah, it seems that our time is over, you should leave now, and close the door behind you please." Watts said as he leaned back at his chair.

Ruby silently hopped off her chair and left the room, heading to her own room down the hall.

After Ruby left him alone, Watts was left alone with his thoughts. He got up from his chair and went on with his experiments, trying his best to focus on them, yet it seemed impossible because every time he starts to concentrate, the story he told Ruby kept popping right back in his mind, as if it was refusing to leave him in peace. After giving up, Watts decided to just take the rest of his day off.

Ruby on the other hand was walking in the hall, thinking about the story she just heard, and as she approached her room, she spotted the sight of someone walking at the other end of the hall, someone very large. "Hazel!" She yelled happily as she started running towards him, it was a rare instance for her to see Hazel, simply because he was busy almost every day.

Hazel himself smiled as he approached the little cheerful girl, sometimes he himself needed to relax and take things off his mind, and he already knew that this little girl is a master at taking his mind off of things, just like someone he used to know.

"Hazel! You're back so soon!" She spoke cheerfully as she gave him a hug. "Well yes, it seems like my quest was way easier than expected, tell you what. I have some free time before I have to go report to Salem, want to go get some ice-cream?" His offer immediately earned a nod from Ruby. He held her hand and they started walking towards the castle's exit.

* * *

 **Welp, I'm late 1 day, but it's no biggie, I just wanted to say that I know this chapter is shorter than usual, and that is not because I can't write more, it is because. (As you might have noticed) I am trying to have 4 different chapters of Ruby having a day with team WTCH, every chapter will be her having one scene with one member, and it is clearly not as easy to write a lot of words with only 1 scene a chapter, you can expect the next 2 chapters to be as long or perhaps slightly longer than this one.**

 **Also, this chapter is exactly 2050 words (Excluding A/N)**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter of LGRH.**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**_


	14. Chapter 13: Yellow's the color of flames

**Hello people! Welcome back. Here is another backstory chapter, We'll be moving on with the story in 2 chapters, the next chapter will contain another backstory, the one after it will be a Ruby/Salem interaction chapter. But for now, let's enjoy 5-year-old Ruby while we still have her.**

 **And I want to apologize for being so late, I am currently writing my own novel and it's taking most of my writing time.**

 **Pun of the chapter: what's a can of soda called if it's made in America? A mere can! Get it? A mere can? amerecan? American? (Yes I did make this myself and please don't kill me.)**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood! Oh, by the way, this takes place right after the point in which the last chapter ended.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 13: Yellow is the color of flames**_

* * *

"Enjoy your Icecream sir." The vendor told Hazel as he handed him two cones of Icecream, one was chocolate and the other was strawberry. Hazel nodded as he handed the man two Lien. "Keep the change." He added before taking his leave whilst making sure that Ruby is still following him. For their luck, the Icecream truck had basically no one around it, so they did not have to wait for getting their own Icecream.

"Let's go sit there Ruby." Hazel told Ruby as he walked towards a small wooden bench. He sat down and then waited for Ruby to sit beside him. "Which one do you want?" He asked with a small. Little Ruby cheerfully pointed at the strawberry cone and said. "The red one!" Hazel handed her the cone as she requested, it was no surprise that she would choose the one that is closest to her favorite color, Red.

Hazel himself started to enjoy his Icecream while he can, it was a rare occasion for him to be able to enjoy himself since he was almost always out on some sort of errand or mission. He soon heard little Ruby failing to resist a small giggle coming out of her mouth. "Why are you laughing?" He asked curiously.

Ruby switched her eyes to look at her friend and said. "When I and Cinder went out to the city for the first time ever, I was sitting with her on this same bench." Hazel was taken by a surprise from her answer, yet it bothered him none, in fact, the more he thought about it the more he discovered that it was a strange yet pleasant coincidence.

"Well, that is nice. Do you remember what you talked about?" Hazel asked, trying to maintain the conversation. Ruby cringed as she was reminded of the only memory she had when she sat with Cinder. "No, I was too busy screaming from the pain in my teeth, I bit right into the Icecream." She said jokingly but with a hint of pain.

Hazel himself couldn't stop a small giggle from escaping his mouth. "Well, at least now you know how to eat it." He said sarcastically as they both continued eating their Icecream. Hazel himself tried his best to relax as he closed his eyes and tried to enjoy the evening breeze.

"Hazel." Ruby suddenly called, snapping Hazel out of his state. He looked at her with a smile and answered. "Yes, Ruby?"

He watched as Ruby pondered something in her mind for a while before finally asking. "Why are you sad?" Hazel was taken by a surprise from such a weird and untimely question. He quickly figured that Ruby was just five years old and she might have not exactly said what she really meant.

"What do you mean I'm sad? I am completely fine." He claimed, he then added. "Are you sure you're asking the right question?"

Ruby herself looked a bit confused, but she brushed it off and said. "Yes, Watts and Cinder are sad because of something, what are you sad about?" Her question only added more confusion to Hazel as he asked. "What are you talking about?"

The reply he got from Ruby was a smug smile followed by her saying. "I can't tell you! I won't be a hero if I snitch!"

By now, Hazel's mind was blowing up with all kinds of questions. But it was overtaken by one word and one word only. "Hero?" He asked with a slight hint of worry and grief. Ruby herself smiled and replied with a nod before saying. "Now come on! Tell me your story!" She demanded as she finally finished her Icecream cone. But before Hazel could speak, she said one last thing. "Oh, by the way, your Icecream is melting." Hazel did not notice the Icecream melting on his hand, nearly reaching his elbow until little Ruby told him about it.

Hazel threw his cone in the trash bin next to him instead of finishing it. He then said. "You know, I used to know someone who wanted to be a hero. I don't think you should do the same." Ruby was confused by his reply, she was expecting some kind of encouragement, not the complete opposite.

"What do you mean? Are heroes bad?!" She asked, shocked as if she was tricked into trying to become something evil. Hazel stopped her thoughts quickly as he said. "No! It's just, well it does not end well." He only earned a confused look from Ruby, so he continued. "You see, I used to know someone very much like you Ruby, she wanted to become a hero too. And she did, to some extent at least."

"Who was she?" Ruby asked curiously, she watched as Hazel's grieving eyes started to water slightly. He quickly rubbed both his eyes before answering. "I believe you know about my sister, Gretchen." His question wasn't too difficult for Ruby as she immediately remembered his sister, she had heard the group and particularly Salem bring up her name a few times.

Noticing the nod from Ruby, Hazel continued. "There was a day in training when something went wrong, she and her team were locked in a large room, prepared to fight a small pack of Beowulfs. But instead of her and her team facing a pack of Beowulfs, the stupid system suddenly collapsed and opened the gate for all the Beowulfs, there must have been dozens. And I just stood there, watching behind the glass window as I watched my sister fight, I couldn't do anything."

Hazel did not realize how he was rambling to Ruby until she reached her hand towards his and held it. She then gave him a hug while sitting on the bench. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, please don't be mad at me." She said with a sad tone, a tone that was very rare for someone like Ruby. Hazel did not like to hear her sad one bit. "It's okay Ruby, you did not know." He explained as he hugged her back.

Hazel soon tried his best to lighten the mood. "Ruby, what did you do the first time you came here to the city?" He asked as he smiled happily at the little girl. She smiled back as she answered. "I and Cinder went to the park of course! That's how I met my friend, Yang!"

"Well, I still have thirty minutes, do you want to take a walk in the park?" He offered. Ruby immediately replied with one of her usual cheerful nods before hopping off the bench. "Yes! Let's go, Hazel!" She yelled excitedly and happily as she started skipping towards the park at the end of the street. The way she moved in front of him and looked back at him every couple of seconds only reminded him of how his sister used to always skip excitedly in front of him and make fun of him for being too tired to follow back.

...

"Come on! Want to swing with me?" Ruby asked cheerfully as she turned her head around, only to see Hazel running up to her, barely being able to breathe because of how tired he was.

"I- I think I'll pass, you go ahead and I'll watch you from here." He answered while panting and resting his hands on his knees. He then watched as she nodded and made her way to one of the swings. He sat down on a wooden bench and tried to steady his breathing.

Ruby herself would have much preferred to have her friend Yang with her, but this wasn't going to stop her from having fun in the time she had left before having to go back to her mother's domain. She went up on the swing and started using the technique she learned from Yang the day she met her. And as always, she loved looking straight up at the sky while swinging, it made her feel as if she was spinning around the whole world, so she kept swinging while staring straight at the soon-to-be-dark sky. As it was approaching nighttime.

"Ugh! Stupid swing!" A boyish voice yelled out from the swing next to Ruby, she immediately looked at the direction of which the voice came from, only to see a blond boy sitting on the other swing, fidgeting and struggling to move his swing an inch. "Ugh! Come on already." He added, Ruby quietly watched until the boy finally gave up and stopped trying to move his swing.

She hesitated, but soon she found the courage to talk to the boy. "Do you need some help with that?" She asked, still afraid of the boy turning out to be mean, yet thankfully he looked at her and gave her a smile before saying. "Well, I'd love that. How on Remnant do you move this thing anyway?" He replied.

Ruby smiled before she spoke back. "Well, you are supposed to move your legs back and up, not use your whole body, that was the mistake I did at first." Her small tip only confused the boy as he replied. "But how can my legs move it more than my own body?" He asked. "Honestly, I don't know." Was Ruby's honest reply that came with a small chuckle afterwards.

The boy tried to use the technique the girl told him about, and to his surprise, it worked wonderfully. He was swinging up and down almost effortlessly. "Wow, this is so much easier." He told Ruby as he looked around him while swinging high up in the air. He then remembered how he did not introduce himself. "Oh, I'm Jaune by the way." The boy said as he continued to swing.

"Hi, Jaune! I'm Ruby." She replied with a smile, they were now both swinging with the same speed, almost rhyming together. "So, do you come to this park often?" Jaune asked his newly found friend. "Not really, I come here once a month." Was her reply.

"Cool! I'm here because my oldest sister is applying to Beacon, but I live in Mistral with my family." Jaune explained. Ruby could only show a confused look as she asked. "M-Mistral?"

"Yeah, you know. The biggest kingdom." He explained. He only got an even more confused look from Ruby. Which only made him question if she knows what he's talking about or not. He was pretty sure that there was no way that someone from Remnant doesn't know about Mistral.

...

Hazel watched as his small companion talked to another boy, seemingly just a tiny bit older than her. Since the day he met Ruby, he just couldn't ignore how much she reminded him of his own deceased sister. Her way of talking, her way of playing, heck. Even her way of teasing him is the same.

*Buzz Buzz*

The sound of his scroll buzzing interrupted his thinking. He took it out of his pocket to find a message from Cinder. It said. *Where the hell are you Hazel?! And where is Ruby!*

Hazel decided to give Cinder a call instead of texting her back, he always found texting hard, especially because of how big his fingers were. As he rung her up, she took no more than a few seconds to pick up and immediately yell on the phone. "Where are you!? Do you know where Ruby is!?"

Hazel sighed before answering. "Relax, she's with me, we're at the park. I left you a note at the door." He explained. silence resumed for a few seconds before Cinder finally spoke again. "A note huh? I think I might need to speak to Tyrian, bring Ruby back before Salem finds out though." She said right before closing the line, not giving Hazel a chance to talk.

Whatever Tyrian did must have been some sort of prank on Cinder. Hazel took Cinder's advice though and got up to go get Ruby. After walking for a bit, he reached Ruby who was still talking to her newly made friend. "Ruby, it's time to go." He said as he pointed at the sun that was about to set.

"Oh, well. I guess I'll see you around then, tell your six sisters I said hi!" Ruby said. Jaune thought that she was being sarcastic yet she was actually serious about saying hi to them, he got up from his swing and shook Ruby's hand. "Haha, okay. Goodbye, Ruby." He answered before she and her caretaker left. Jaune kept waving at Ruby until she finally vanished from his sight.

Ruby walked alongside her companion, both of them making their way to the wall of magical bushes that separated Salem's domain from the rest of Remnant. "Hazel, is Cinder my sister?" Ruby suddenly asked. Earning a completely shocked look from Hazel.

"What? Why?" he asked, very confused about how this thought came to little Ruby's mind. He watched as she hesitated to talk, but finally spoke out by saying. "Well, my friend told me that if I have another girl who is a little older or younger than me then she's my sister, he probably is right since he has six of them." She replied.

Hazel's shock started to increase even further. Who in their right minds would have six children? How does Ruby think that Cinder, who was seventeen years older than her, Her sister? How on Remnant is he going to reply to this question?

His mind kept rambling before he finally decided to not get involved in such things, he soon answered. "Well, you might need to ask Cinder yourself." He said, heknew he avoided answering the question but he also knew that he put Cinder in a tight spot and that she would probably be mad at him for a while.

* * *

 **And done! Finally huh? It's been 11 days since the last update, sorry if I'm taking too long, but life is life and it is still as bi**y as always.**

 **Anyway, this chapter is 2.4K words (Excluding A/N) I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Next chapter will be the Semi-finale of 5-year-old Ruby. But until then, I wish you enjoyed this chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood. Please leave a review as it helps a lot, tell me anything you liked or did not like.**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**_


	15. Chapter 14: A tail, a boy, and a ghost

**Hey. It is me! Your nightmare! A kitty that will lick you to death!**

 ***cut***

 **Alright, let's try that again. Hey, what's up? Welcome back to another chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood. I won't waste your time with a pun or a long author's note, I'll just remind you that this chapter takes place right after the last one ended. please enjoy!**

 **Little Grimm Riding Hood.**

 **Chapter 14: A Tail, a boy, and a ghost.**

* * *

'Yes I'm your sister, I don't mind being called your sister but I'm also not your sister! is it that To understand?! UGH! WeCan'tBeSistersEvenThoughWeTechincallyAreAndHonestlyIhaveNoIdeaHowToExplainThis!' Those were the words that Cinder wanted to yell, not that Ruby would have understood any of them mind you, why the hell is Ruby suddenly calling her 'Big Sis Cin' anyway? Ugh, whoever brought this idea to her mind will burn!

"Maybe you could just say Cinder? Doesn't it sound a bit better?" Cinder said, trying to trick Ruby into stopping her new way of addressing her.

Ruby only chuckled and replied. "No, you're big sis Cin." The grin on Ruby's face was visible as the sun. Cinder was being mocked, being mocked by a five-year-old. A five-year-old of all thing in life that could mock her, it just had to be this.

Both Ruby and Cinder made their way down the hall, Hazel dropped her off as soon as they reached the castle, he had a lot to report so he couldn't waste any time by escorting Ruby to her room, yet thankfully, Cinder was there to get the job done.

"I don't understand, who brought this idea to your mind?" Cinder asked, half of her mind was screaming 'Tyrian did it' and the other half was screaming 'Kill Tyrian because he definitely did it'

Actually, that's the same thing...

They both kept walking down the hall, as they grew nearer to Ruby's room. Cinder was going to go through with her regular way of putting Ruby to sleep. First, she would change her clothes to something more comfortable, then she would tuck her in bed and sit next to her until she falls asleep.

*Buzz Buzz* Cinder's scroll rang. She picked it up from her pocket to reveal a text from Doctor Watts, it read. 'We need you at the meeting as soon as possible.'

Cinder sighed as she looked at the sleepy kid next to her. She started writing back on her scroll. 'And what do you expect me to do with Ruby?" She and Ruby were already just a few feet away from Ruby's room, she expected a response such as. 'tuck her in quickly and come to us.' But the response she actually got was absolutely terrifying.

Cinder nearly gasped as she read the text. 'Salem says to hand her over to Tyrian, he isn't invited to the meeting.'

Tyrian? Tyrian?! Out of all people in the world?! What kind of idea was that?! Cinder thought as she switched her eyes to Ruby. Tyrian wouldn't dare to hurt the little girl, but leaving her alone with him could lead to things Cinder wouldn't like to imagine. What if he tells her anything that might scare her? What if he-

*Buzz Buzz* Cinder's scroll went again. She immediately read the text. 'Salem made herself clear, he won't hurt her, Now go.' was what the text said. It was no doubt that Watts knew that Cinder would be shocked at first, that's why he decided to end any problems before they even start, so he sent her that reassuring text.

"Ruby." Cinder called the little girl that was nearing her room. When Ruby stopped and looked behind her, she saw Cinder giving her an almost guilty look. "Ruby, You're gonna have to spend the rest of the night with Tyrian." She explained.

Ruby herself had nothing against spending time with Tyrian, in fact. She thought he was a very fun person to be around, even if a bit weird and unpredictable. He almost always had something new to do, be it a strange story that he probably made up, or anything else. She was almost guaranteed to have something new to do.

"Okay!" Ruby answered with her usual cheerful tone. Failing to realize how worried Cinder actually is. And after a while and a few minutes of briefing from Cinder, Ruby finally found herself alone with Tyrian in her own room. Almost one hour left before she has to go to bed, that's more than enough time for someone like Tyrian to do something crazy.

"So, Grimm princess, I guess we're stuck now, watcha wanna do?!" Tyrian asked, waggling his tail around playfully as he watched Ruby's eyes following it wherever it goes. "Ruby." He said, trying to snap her out of her state.

Ruby's eyes snapped as if she was suddenly awoken. "Tyrian, I think it's happening again." Ruby's breath started augmenting faster and faster, it steadily started to get harder for Ruby to breath. "Tyrian!" She yelled with panic, whatever voice she could muster was used to utter that word. Tyrian immediately pulled out a small glass vial from his pocket. "I knew it! You did skip it didn't you!" He said proudly, almost sounding as if he doesn't care about anything other than he was right.

He opened the vial which contained a black liquid, just enough from it to fill a spoon, but he had no time for spoons so he quickly handed the vial to Ruby, she herself did not waste any time as she gulped down all of the liquid contained in the vial. Almost immediately, the effects started to show as her breathing got better with each passing second. "Why did you not take your dose?" Tyrian asked, almost mockingly.

"You know I hate how it tasted like!" Ruby answered as she tried to forget all about the disgusting taste in her mouth. Tyrian himself started laughing. "Oh no! I hate how my medicine tastes like, now I'll skip it so I can turn into a monster!" He said sarcastically. Ruby herself gave a small chuckle as she corrected him by saying. "A cute monster."

"Don't flatter yourself." He answered jokingly. Lately, Ruby noticed that Tyrian is starting to enjoy her company a tiny bit, it might be because he can basically make fun of anything she does. He was also a bit more open about his past. And by a bit, I mean a lot. Like the fact that he is merged with a Geist Grimm, and that he used to be a huntsman.

It was almost time for Ruby to sleep already. "Ten minutes and I go, Grimm Queen." Tyrian warned. Ruby wasted no time as she asked him to do one thing that she finds necessary before going to bed every night. "Story!" She yelled cheerfully as she used her own semblance to tuck herself in bed. Tyrian got up to his feet and sat down in the armchair next to Ruby's bed.

Tyrian already had the perfect story to tell Ruby, it won't just be exciting, the best part is that it will probably give her a nightmare. "Alright! Once upon a time..."

 ***Tyrian narration***

"There was a brave and handsome huntsman with the name Shyrian. He was the most famous student in the luxurious Mistral academy of huntsmen and huntresses, but not only that. He was also the leader of the best team to ever set foot on the school's ground. Team SAIL was the famous name. The leader was, of course, the renowned Shyrian himself, there were also the two other members. Alex, and Ilias. Who were both great and everything. But the better teammate was the brave Alyssa. Who was known to be Shyrian's most trusted companion."

"Tyri- I mean, Shyrian! Yes, Shyrian was known to never cower out of a fight, and that's why in one specific night when he received a letter giving him a mission deep in the forests of Vale, he refused to back down from the mission like his cowardly companions. Yet thankfully for him, his companion, Alyssa, joined him on his hunt for an ancient Geist Grimm."

"You might think it all went well for the powerful duo of huntsmen, but sadly. It was fate that broke them apart as they were somehow separated in the middle of the forest, leaving poor Shyrian alone until he ran into the Geist Grimm, quite literally too If I'm truthful. The Geist Grimm fought hard to control Shyrian, yet even a Grimm well over two hundred years old could not force Shyrian to relent his body to him. They fought for hours, even a whole day. Each of them trying to take control of poor Shyrian's mind and body."

"It all ended though, it all ended with the swift and merciful decision that came from a cunning queen, a queen that was wondering the forest for the enjoyment of solitude. Her decision was smart, if the two wouldn't give up their fight then they'd have to learn to share the mind of Shyrian. To this day, the tales speak of Shyrian, the huntsman who is merged with a Geist, making them one. They say he still roams around Remnant, doing whichever deed his queen asks him to do."

 ***End of Tyrian narration***

"And that, little princess, is ho-" *Zzzzzz* Ruby snored lightly, revealing to the unknowing Tyrian that she must have been sleeping for at least a part of the story. Tyrian was slightly disappointed as he couldn't at least scare little Ruby a bit more.

* * *

 **So, this definitely was the shortest chapter of the four backstory chapters, partly because I had basically nothing to talk about except for the backstory, it was exactly 1.5 words (Excluding A/N). Anyway, I hope the writing wasn't too rusty with this one and that you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter will be the final chapter of 5-year-old Ruby, which is great since that means we are getting closer to beacon, which I believe will be the best part of this fanfiction, oh I have so many plans for this :P**

 **Please leave a review as it helps a ton. Follow and/or Fav if you like the story, thanks for reading!**

 **Much Love! Stay Positive! MG Out!**


	16. Chapter 15: A real Grimm Princess

**Hey and wassup, welcome back to another chapter of Little Grimm Riding hood.**

 **Firstly, You may notice that my Username was changed to ZilverHope, so get used to that if you're looking for my name, secondly is a request from anyone with artistic abilities, if you can draw or anything of the like please contact me as I'm looking for someone to make a cover art for this story, if you're interested then PM me, I would really appreciate it. Lastly, I'm sorry to say that the updates for this story might slow down a bit since I'm entering a period of exams, I'll finish the 14th of May so that's when I should regain all of my free time, I'll be sure to update a lot when I finish as not only will I have summer vacation, but I'll also fly to Canada and stay with my beta-reader for 2 months and a half, so I should be able to progress this story A LOT in that time.**

 **With all that said, I hope you enjoy this chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 15: A Real Grimm Princess.**_

* * *

This was it! This is the day she was waiting for! Finally, after all the hard work and countless hours of strict and tiring practice. Ruby was finally going to show her Mother and Mentor what she's capable of! Today was the day that Ruby got to show Salem her incredible powers.

The trip to the Forever Fall forest was only the beginning, now as she and her mentor stood in a clear area in at the heart of the forest, Ruby was more than willing and ready to put her skills to the test.

"Are you ready, child?" Salem's voice rung out, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. Salem herself was awaiting this day for quite some time, not only would she be able to properly see the Improvements Ruby has made but she would also see how Ruby would fare against a Grimm when she thinks that she isn't completely safe. Of course, she was actually safe, but Salem made sure that Ruby'd think otherwise as it was about time that Salem sees how Ruby would do if she wasn't in the comfort of knowing that she's completely safe.

"Yes!" Ruby was beyond excited, she had already proved that with being the first to wake up this morning, she was so excited she even refused to eat breakfast with Cinder in the hopes of getting to the forest earlier than planned.

"Very well, remember that I won't be here to save you does anything go wrong, you will be on your own, would you remind me of your objectives once more before we start?" Salem reminded Ruby of the situation.

"Mmhm! I am looking for a small Beowulf you created and when I find it I will use the connection between us to find you and return with the Grimm." Was Ruby's answer, what she didn't know is the fact that Salem had eyes all around the forest, Grimm eyes to be exact, and she would make sure that no Grimm would get even within a mile of Ruby, except for the one she is destined to find that is.

"Very good, I will be waiting for your success Ruby so don't disappoint me." Were the words Salem said, Ruby was about to answer her mentor but as she turned around to face her, she was already gone.

*Sigh* "Ok! You can do it Ruby, juuuust focus." Ruby told herself as she sat on the ground, her powers allowed the redhead to detect any upcoming Grimm yet to her relief, she found none around her. She wasted no time as she focused all her energy on finding her prey and with a few seconds of intense concentration, Ruby acquired her target. "Gotcha!" She triumphed as she burst into rose petals and followed the path that would undoubtedly lead her to the Grimm she was looking for.

In the meantime, Salem was carefully eying her apprentice she was giving all of her attention on making sure Ruby is safe, she was basically scrutinizing the whole forest, making sure that every Grimm that infested the forest would be ordered to stay away from the silver eyed girl. Ruby was definitely going the right way and more importantly was the fact that her being alone did not seem to have any effect on the child, both of these facts pleased Salem.

Another noticeable thing was how Ruby almost excelled in using her semblance, she was dodging trees left and right, she was so fast she even passed by some Grimm who had not time to get out of her way, yet the most important part was her ability to use it for a couple of minutes without needing to rest, that ability would be crucial if she ever needed to escape after any mission.

As time went on, Ruby had finally got her target within eye's reach, Salem observed using her connection to the same Grimm Ruby was about to catch. The Redhead was hidden well behind a bush, ready for the Grimm to turn its back towards her so she can jump it.

Another thing Salem noticed it how a moderately sized Ursa was approaching little Ruby. Salem didn't panic as it was something to be expected, she simply focused some of her energy to tell the Grimm to go to the other side and like that, Ruby would be completely safe again.

Yet there was one problem...it wasn't stopping, if anything it just started running. "What on Remnant?" Salem muttered to herself in disbelief, how dare a Grimm not only disobey her but also do the complete opposite of what she ordered?!

Thinking it was just a dumb young Grimm, Salem decided to just put more of her energy to commanding the Ursa, which sadly only resulted in it picking up even more pace as it was approaching Ruby, Salem couldn't believe it but more importantly, she had to quickly make her way to Ruby. The problem was how she was on the other side of the forest.

Salem ran towards the location of Ruby, and running was something she did very rarely but not this time, this time she used all of her pace to reach Ruby before it's too late. It was an extremely slim possibility that she could outrun an Ursa but she had no choice, she was even using all of her energy to stop the Grimm but it just didn't listen.

After a couple of minutes of Salem desperately running towards Ruby, she finally had the Ursa in her eyesight, yet sadly it was too late as she watched it launch towards Ruby, forcing her to the ground. Salem's heart nearly stopped and she could feel all of her body burst into even more speed as she ran towards her adopted daughter.

Her ears were finally close enough for her to hear the cries of the little kid, yet those cries were nothing as she expected them to be like. "Bahaha, stop it! It tickles!" Ruby screamed, Salem couldn't make out if those were were screams of agony or cheer, it was like a mix of the two.

The Ursa was for some reason fiercely licking Ruby all over her face. "Ruby?!" Salem shouted as she tried to command the Ursa to get off Ruby, yet again she had the negative response as the Grimm kept tickling the redhead girl.

"What in the name of Dust is happening here!" Salem yelled furious at the creature that disobeyed her commands, she was about ready to rip it to pieces. Yet the next thing that happened stopped her.

"Okay okay! You win, get off me!" Ruby pleaded, barely able to mutter the words as she laughed hysterically. And with her words, the Ursa immediately got off her as if it was obeying her wishes. Ruby, on the other hand, took a few moments to muster up the strength to get up. "Salem!" She cheered as she walked towards her master, hands behind her back.

Salem was about to talk but she was interrupted by Ruby showing what's behind her back, it was a small Beowulf, barely the size of Ruby's hand. "I succeeded!" Ruby triumphed as she attempted to give the Grimm to her so-called mother.

"You can just put that down." Salem said as she set her eyes on the Ursa, the Ursa was clearly looking straight at Ruby as if it's expecting something to come from her. Ruby meanwhile set the Grimm down, it proceeded to run into the forest, Salem, on the other hand, was preparing to do something. Ruby watched as Salem extended her arm towards the Ursa.

"What are you doing, Salem?" The little one asked as she watched Salem walk closer to the beast. "I'm putting this scum out of its misery." Salem answered, not bothering to sugarcoat her answer.

"B-but! Why?! It was playing with me!" Ruby yelled. Her eyes started to get teary when she saw Salem not slowing down.

With a quick use of her semblance, Ruby stood in the way between Salem and the Ursa. "There's no reason to hurt him Salem!" The little girl explained as she tried to protect the Ursa. Yet something else bothered Salem, it wasn't how Ruby was standing in the way, it's how the Ursa had immediately started growling at her when Ruby stood in her way.

Salem was about to kill the creature anyway but she was stopped when she put one and two together. That Grimm did not listen to her, not because it didn't want to, it was forced to!

"Ruby, you want that Grimm safe?" Salem asked as she looked at the sobbing child in front of her, Ruby answered with a vigorous nod and a "Yes." Salem then proceeded to add "Even if that means it had to leave right now?" Ruby quickly replied with another nod. "Are you sure that this is what your heart wants?" Salem asked, her question earning one more nod from the little girl.

"If that's so, I want you to stare it straight in the eye. Let's see what happens after." Was Salem's vague order for Ruby but Ruby wouldn't dare turn the chance down and she immediately turned around to face her newly found friend, staring straight into its eyes. Ruby was starting to lose hope in whatever was about to happen until the Ursa let out a small ruff-like sound and turned around to run into the vast forest.

As Salem expected, the Ursa wasn't willingly disobeying her, it was disobeying her because it already had a master. "Ruby, do you know what you just did?" Salem asked as Ruby turned back to face her. "No." Was her simple answer.

"The training is over, Ruby, follow me." Salem ordered as she turned around and started walking towards her domain, Ruby reluctantly followed her master through the forest until they reached their shared home.

Salem had to confirm to Ruby multiple times that she did exceptionally well in her training. Which in by itself was enough to make the child extremely happy. Upon reaching the castle, Salem made sure to tell Ruby to stay by her side and she announced a meeting to take place as soon as possible, what was new about this meeting is the fact that Ruby herself would be attending it.

And it didn't take long for all the group to assemble in the meeting hall. Salem was sitting on her usual throne whilst Ruby was standing right next to her, her height barely enough for her to see above the table.

"We are gathered here today to discuss an ability I had discovered in Ruby." Salem announced, earning everyone's attention, especially Watt's who asked. "And what may that ability be, ma'am?"

"Well, Ruby is here to demonstrate, I trust that you would not mind that, dear?" Salem answered whilst looking at Ruby who tentatively answered. "No, I wouldn't."

And with that, a snap of Salem's fingers echoed a sound through the room, the sound followed by a small cloud of black mist forming in the air in front of the Grimmqueen and from that mist came a small nevermore that flew until it stood on Salem's shoulder. Salem herself made sure to not command the Grimm to serve her, the Grimm was free to do whatever it pleased up until this point.

"You can go ahead now, child." Salem disclosed. Ruby did the same thing she did with the Ursa, she looked straight into its eyes. The other members of the group kept silently watching, waiting for anything to happen. Tyrian was secretly hoping the nevermore bites Ruby, Watts hoped for anything remarkable while Hazel was completely neutral, Cinder on the other hand just hoped that nothing bad would happen to Ruby.

And after a few seconds, the Grimm simply hopped off Salem's shoulder and flew to stand on Ruby's shoulder instead. The group watched as their leader eyed them, waiting for any comment yet all of them were silent until Watts finally understood what happened. "Ma'am, how exactly did this happen?" He asked, both shocked and interested at the same time.

"What do you mean?" Cinder spoke out. "You surely know what this means!?" Watts quickly answered back, earning confused looks from all the three team members. "*sigh* she can control Grimm." He answered, disappointed to be the only one to figure it out.

"That is correct." The Grimm queen declared. "Not only that, but she can control more advanced creations like Ursas." She added, impressing Watts even further. "Of course! The mixture of her DNA and yours must've given her similar powers to yours!" Watts said as if he made a breakthrough in his studies, he's been studying Ruby's black eye since it appeared and he never made such advancements in his studies until now. "Ma'am, I wouldn't be surprised if this power developed into something more, we absolutely must explore this further." Watts explained.

"And we will, Watts, We definitely will." Salem answered. "We must be careful, however, the mixture between Grimm DNA and Silver eyes might be bizarre, I suggest a calm approach and for us to see how this develops by time, forcing anything could be lethal." He added to his theories. "Worry not Watts, we won't be reckless with things we don't understand." Salem assured.

And with that, silence rung along the room, making it clear that the meeting is now over. "You may all leave, but you Cinder, stay." Salem ordered, her orders were followed by all the members excusing themselves from the table and making their way out of the room, leaving the Grimm queen, The silver eyed girl, and Cinder alone in the room.

"Cinder, you take the child to her quarters and put her to bed, but before that, I want to know how her physical training is going." Cinder did not think too much before answering her leader. "Her training is going well, she's able to properly position herself and defend herself without me helping her, of course, I'm only swinging jabs at her but it's only the start." Was the answer.

"That's good but I'd like you to hurry more in starting to teach her more offensive ways of fighting." Salem requested, but she added more before Cinder could reply. "But of course, if you think she isn't ready yet then take your time." Cinder nodded and then answered. "I'll do my best, Salem. Anything else?"

"You are excused, Ruby go ahead and go with her." Salem said as she gave a small pat on the back for Ruby, she then watched as both Ruby and Cinder left the room and closed the door behind them, leaving Salem to her thoughts.

* * *

2 **.5k Words (Excluding A/N) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and Ruby's ability, believe me it's only the start.**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	17. Chapter 16: A True Warrior

**Hey, what's up? Welcome to this extra long chapter of Little Griimm Riding Hood. This chapter sits at 4.1K words, pretty long since my norm is 3k. Nevertheless, I'm very happy with this chapter and I think it might actually be the best one yet, please enjoy, I want to remind anyone with artistic abilities to contact me if he or she wants to create a cover art for this story, thanks.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **C**_ **hapter 16: A true Warrior.**

* * *

Ten from the left, ten from the right, and fifteen in front of her. "Must be my birthday." Ruby mumbled jokingly. Looking around herself, that was the amount of Beowulfs surrounding the eleven-year-old scythe wielder. She took a deep breath before focusing her energy on the group of Grimm to her right, using that technique, she was able to use her powers to locate them, even if she had her back turned towards them. As always, the younger and less mature Grimm threw themselves towards the girl.

The girl who easily dispatched of them one by one. "One, two, three, four." She counted as her scythe tore through the misty Grimm flesh as if it was wheat rather than harsh and armored flesh. The girl finally landed on her feet, barely dropping a sweat after she had dealt with the younger Grimm. Her connection with the Grimm that she focused her energy on immediately told her about the Grimm about to bash her head from behind. Grinning, Ruby simply pressed a button on her valuable weapon, which immediately extended into a double-edged spear.

And with that, she simply poked backwards with a bit of force which resulted in the Grimm behind her to be impaled on her mighty weapon. Ruby then looked around herself. The eyes and body shape of the remaining Beowulfs made it clear that these ones were quite old, they all surrounded the heterochromatic-eyed girl, not giving her any space to go in between them.

She simply watched as they all prepared to jump her at the same time, their plan was clearly to use their superior numbers to overwhelm the girl, yet all she did was simply poke another button on her weapon which made it switch back into its original scythe form.

That is when all the Grimm decided to charge the girl, yet right before impact was when she was suddenly transformed into nothing more than a pile of black rose petals, the following scene was almost cartoonish as all the Grimm crashed into each other and fell on the ground.

Meanwhile, the redhead was right above them, firing shots under herself to use the kickback and recoil to almost fly in the air, she looked down at the inviting cascade of Grimm. Once more, she pressed a button on her weapon, yet this time it changed into nothing other than a two-handed sword.

A Small chuckle escaped the girl's lips as she used her semblance to fiercely crash herself on the ground, piercing the ground with her sword in the process. That move resulted in a huge shockwave which sent all the Grimm flying, some crashed into each other and died, others were impaled onto trees, and others survived but only found it in themselves to turn tail and run away from the mighty warrior that had almost killed them.

"Phew!" the girl said both triumphantly and tiredly as she wiped the sweat off her forehead using her palm. "Nice job, twenty-one seconds, that's a new record for you." Cinder Applauded as she came out from behind a tree, scroll in hand indicating that a timer had been set before the fight started. Ruby has been training with her so-called sister for almost five years now and it was almost every time that she had this test that she would break her previous record.

"Yeah, you did it in five though." Ruby replied, smiling at both her teacher and now official teammate.

"Baby steps, Ruby, I did that when I was twenty five." Cinder replied, encouraging the eleven-year-old. In all her years of teaching young Ruby, nothing has ever worked more than the method she was using now, whenever she would make a mistake, Cinder would make sure to point it out but at the same time, she tried to be as patient as possible, being harsh and rash with Ruby nearly always resulted in her making even more mistakes. She'd also try to encourage her as much as she can, just like she did now.

"So, how does the new Grimm Rose feel? Do you like the new white color?"

Ruby looked at her weapon and pressed a button that made it switch into a small square form, she then holstered her weapon on her back before answering. "This one is pretty heavy. To be honest, I liked the last one more, though I do like the color." Was her answer, her last weapon was lighter and faster which for someone with the fighting style of Ruby is invaluable.

"Well, I'm sure you and Watts will figure it out." Cinder assured. "Now, how about a bit of sparring?" She offered, Ruby loved to spar yet she hated to spar with Cinder specifically because of the obvious reason of. "No, you're gonna kick my butt again!"

Cinder couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, I'll go easy on you."

"That's what you say every time!" Ruby yelled.

Cinder only grinned as she extended her arm forwards, in a few seconds, a glass sword formed in front of Cinder and she wasted no time to grab it. "Fine, how about a batch of cookies if you win?" Cinder offered.

Ruby's mouth almost Drooled with the mention of her favorite food. "Chocolate chip?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, chocolate chip. Now, are we fighting sword to sword or are you using your scythe?" Cinder asked. "Can't I just use both?" Ruby replied. Cinder nodded before Pointing her sword towards Ruby. In response, Ruby drew her own weapon and extended it into its sword form.

...

"Go!" Cinder yelled before she launched herself towards Ruby. Ruby herself dodged sideways in response, hoping that Cinder would keep going forwards and stumble, yet all that happened was that Cinder quickly adjusted her position and stopped. Now they were both facing each other. Ruby was the first to strike with an overhead swing, Cinder didn't even move, she simply used her foot to trip Ruby over and both Ruby and her attack failed as a result. Before Ruby could get up, she found Cinder's sword aimed straight towards her throat. "Give up ye-" Cinder was interrupted with Ruby's feet quickly tripping her over.

Ruby used the time she had to quickly get up and perform a Backflip, giving herself some space away from her opponent. Pressing a button on her weapon, Ruby's sword quickly transformed into the original Scythe form. Ruby saw that Cinder wasn't fully balanced yet so she took it to her advantage and used her semblance to rush towards her, she was successful as she landed a direct hit on Cinder's shoulder, resulting in a significant part of her Aura to deplete. Yet Ruby's greed took over as she tried to land another hit, Cinder's faster reaction made her able to raise her sword just in time to intercept the overhead swing aimed at her, she immediately pushed with her sword, deflecting Ruby's attack attempt and using it against her and quickly kicking Ruby heard in the stomach, causing her to fall on her back and roll backwards. Ruby had no time though as Cinder sprinted towards her, hitting her hard in the face using her heels, causing her to fall on her back.

Ruby's Aura had dropped below half and that's when duels with Cinder end for safety reasons. "Nice Try, Rub-" As Cinder was about to give Ruby a helping hand, she was stopped as she noticed how Ruby was looking at her with extreme anger.

"Ruby?" The Redhead pushed herself up from the ground, picking her weapon and maintaining eye contact with Cinder at the same time.

"Ruby?!" She extended her weapon into Scythe form and started speed walking towards Cinder, picking up more pace with each passing second.

"Ruby?! What're you doing?" Ruby picked up enough pace to be considered running, she even prepared her weapon to slash towards Cinder. And that's exactly what happened as Ruby attacked Cinder, not once, but multiple times, she kept chaining strikes towards Cinder who barely managed to keep up, blocking all the attacks without attacking back since she didn't want to wind up hurting Ruby.

"Ruby! Snap out of it!" Cinder yelled, Ruby seemed to lose some motive as she steadily slowed down her chain of attacks after hearing those words, soon enough, it came to a halt as both Ruby and Cinder looked at each other with confusion. "What happened?" Ruby asked, oblivious of her attempt to attack Cinder.

"It happened again. Ruby, did you take your medication?"

"Yeah, I did... was it bad?"

"Pretty bad, yeah. I don't think we should wait until it gets worse though."

"I think I want to go see Watts. I want everything to be safe for tomorrow."

"It will be, don't worry."

And with that, both Cinder and Ruby made their way back home. Ruby went to Salem first, as she always did. She asked her the usual question like how her training went and such, she then made her way to Watt's laboratory, as usual, she stood outside the door and heard all kinds of weird sounds coming from inside, first it was just the sound of some type of gears spinning, then it was the sound of some liquid which followed by what seemed to be an explosion.

"Watts, you okay in there?" Ruby yelled from outside the lab, she had learned to not question the sounds coming from Watt's laboratory as it would only drive her insane.

"I'm fine, leave me alone though, I'm busy." He answered after he seemed to stop whatever he was doing as the sounds had definitely gotten less loud.

"And I'm about to hurt my friend tomorrow if you don't help me." She yelled back. She waited for her stubborn tutor to respond yet he seemed to not care, she was about to yell again but thankfully the door to the laboratory opened by itself. "Come on, are you just going to stand there?" With those words coming from inside the lab, Ruby pushed through the thick layers of smoke coming out of the room and made her way inside.

"Watts?" The room was filled with smoke which made navigating properly near impossible.

"Right here, follow my voice."

Ruby followed the direction of which his voice came from, she finally spotted what seemed to be the silhouette of a man. "Watts?"

She had no answer but she could barely make out that the person was handing her something. She took it and discovered that it was a pair of lab goggles, she put them on and she could suddenly see as if the smoke wasn't even around her.

"What do you think?" Watts asked, Ruby noticed how he was standing in front of a table, pen in hand and a blueprint on the table, a blueprint that seemingly had drawings of a weapon.

"That's the final version of Grimm Rose, I think I figured out how to reduce its weight even further without taking away from its lethality." He explained. Ruby noticed how there were four different models on the blueprint, not like the three she normally has. "What's that fourth one?" She asked, both excited and curious as one of her favorite topics is weapons.

"First, there's the scythe, then the sword which I will adjust for you to be able to use both with one hand or both hands if you want, then that third one is the double-edged spear you fancy. Now, I also added a Glaive form so you can have a more offensive approach if you need to use a longer weapon."

"That's so cool! I think we should also add a form where I can use it only as a gun for more stability while shooting! I also want it to be painted black and white instead of white only!"

Watts took a moment to think about Ruby's gun suggestion, for an eleven-year-old, she really did know a lot about weapons, painting the mighty weapon wouldn't be a problem and giving it an extra form wouldn't be either since he didn't start with creating it yet. "I think I can work on that, but did you come here to talk about your weapon or is there something else?" Watts replied.

"Oh, yeah... It happened again, I don't think I can go tomorrow if you don't help me."

"I'll work on something to help you but in return, you'll not be late for class next week and you'll do all of your homework, no excuses, got it?"

"Yes!"

"Good, now please leave me to my work."

...

"Neo!" A scream echoed as Neo was almost pushed to the ground by little Ruby who had just finished emerging out of a pile of bushes. "Hi!" She added as she gave her a hug.

Neo smiled and replied using her Scroll. *Hi, Nice outfit!* Ruby only giggled and said. "I know! It's my favorite!"

Her outfit consisted of hard black boots with a white-colored bottom and laces. She also wore thick white leggings and a small black dress, the dress had a white-colored end and was also held tight with multiple white strings in the stomach area. There was also a black belt holding her waist together. Lastly, she was wearing a white hood that covered her head and was almost long enough to cover her feet.

*Yang is probably waiting for you, I think we should go now, ready?*

"Yes." Ruby replied before closing her eyes and extending her hand forwards, offering it to Neo. As soon as she felt Neo's hand touching hers, she felt as if the whole world around her was moving, then she opened her eyes to reveal that she's in her favorite park. Yang was even in eye's sight. "Thanks, Neo. See you in a few!" Ruby thanked before running towards her friend, looking back, she saw Neo waving at her with a smile before finally turning around and leaving herself.

Yang, on the other hand, was standing in the middle of the playground, looking for wherever Ruby is. She figured it out when she heard it. "Yaaaaaaaang!" She turned around only to be tackled to the ground by her hyperactive friend. "Hi!"

"Hi, Ruby, could you please not crush me?"

"Oh oh, sorry!" The redhead apologized before getting up and giving the blonde a helping hand.

"It's okay, I'm happy you could make it!"

"Of course I did! How can I miss coming to see you?!"

As the girls kept complimenting each other and saying hello, they heard sounds coming from not too far behind them, sounds of something being picked up and thrown on the ground again and again. They both decided to investigate, to their horror, what they found was absolutely disgusting.

"Get up, blondy boy!" Two kids kept yelling at a small kid that was on the ground, he would get up only for them to push him back to the ground and sometimes even kick him once or twice. "Haha, loser!" One of the kids yelled, They kept torturing the poor boy who was helpless on the ground. "Cardin, I think this kid could be even worse than those stupid animals." The smaller of the two kids said. "He definitely is." The boy named Cardin answered.

Both Yang and Ruby felt disgusted by what they see. "Ruby, I'll go deal with them, you stay he-" She was interrupted by Ruby moving towards the two boys herself as if she never heard Yang talking. As the kids were about to push the blond boy back to the ground, Ruby stopped one of them by grabbing his hand and firmly holding it in place. Both boys looked at Ruby who was staring the one she was holding straight in the eyes. "Stop." Was all she mumbled.

The two boys, seemingly intimidated by Ruby's unusual eye colors, hesitated to answer but one of them finally did anyway. "And what're you gonna do about it? Call your mom? Get out of here little girl." He then proceeded to push Ruby, that sight already made Yang's blood boil.

Ruby only chuckled with a wide grin on her face. "No, my mom would be too much for you."

Both boys laughed at the girl's answer and then the same boy tried to push her again, Yang was just done considering if she is to join in to help Ruby or not, and she decided to help her, but that's when it happened. Yang watched in shock as she saw what was about to unfold before her. Before the boy's hand could reach Ruby, her own hands seemed to suddenly move faster than lighting as she used each hand to hold one of his hands in place. "Let go of my hand you little twa- AH!" Yang thought that she heard what seemed to be a crack, then noticed how immediately after Ruby let go of the boy, his fingers were all red and he was squeezing them as if he was trying to stop some sort of pain.

"First, my mom would hold you by your neck, she'd lift you up in the air and stare into your eyes, you'll feel all hell coming loose at you just by that. Then, she'd start tightening her grip around your neck until you can't breathe, you'll tell her to stop but she won't, she'll only tighten her grip even more. Then, you'll hear the first crack, you'll feel the immense pain until the second crack comes along, that's when the last spec of hope you had will vanish. And then the third and final crack comes along, this is when everything will go dark and you'll not feel anything but the unimaginable pain in your neck. Your parents will come crying but my Mom will make them understand that the same that happened to you will happen to them if they don't back off. That's when she'll drop you on the ground, lifeless, just like how you are now, barely considered a true human, nothing but a maggot that has fun by picking on other people."

By now, both boys were shedding tears just by imagining what they heard. What kind of mom does this girl have?! They thought to themselves. "Creep!" One of them yelled as they both ran to wherever their parents might be in fright for their lives, one of them seemingly crying for his Mom.

Even the boy on the ground and Yang were somewhat scared of Ruby, yet she did nothing other than change her dark face expression to a happy one as soon as the boys left, then she offered a helping hand to the boy on the ground. "I'm sorry about that, are you okay?" She asked as she picked him up.

"Uhh, thanks?"

Yang soon came along to talk to her friend. "Ruby, I uhh... I- maybe you were too harsh?"

"I'm sorry, Yang, but they were just mean bullies! Besides, I didn't break his fingers, I just cracked them really hard, he's a wuss." Before Yang could say anything back, Ruby switched to the blond boy and spoke to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, umm... do I know you from somewhere?" The boy asked, Ruby only gave him a confused look. The boy suddenly looked as if he had a breakthrough. "Yeah! You're that girl that taught me how to swing!" The boy answered. Seemingly realizing who she is because of her eye colors.

"Oh! Hi! I remember you! You're the one who had six sisters!" Ruby answered happily.

"Seven now, actually." He said, Ruby only smiled and replied. "That's even better!" As she gave him a big hug.

"Oh, this is my friend, Yang!" She greeted. "Yang, this is, what's your name again actually?" She asked.

"Jaune, Jaune arc." He said as he shook Yang's hand.

"And I'm Ruby!"

...

"So, you're telling me that they were picking on you because you helped that Faunus?" Yang asked after hearing what Jaune had to say following what happened earlier.

"Yeah..."

"Wow, I can't stand people like these!" Ruby announced

"Me neither." Both replied at the same time."

The three of them kept chatting for nearly an hour, changing topics every now and then.

"So, Yang. How's Signal?" Ruby asked.

"Wait, you're a Signal student? That's so cool!" Jaune interrupted, earning smiles from both girls.

"You betcha, I was actually waiting to show you something really cool, Ruby. Might as well show you both now!" Yang said as she got up, she rolled the sleeves of her yellow shirt, revealing two yellow bracelets. Soon, both bracelets transformed into what seemed to be metal boxing gloves.

"Wow!" Both other kids were surprised by the sudden transformation. "Cool huh? My uncle even promised to make it a firearm when I grow up!"

The explanation of Yang's weapons went on for some time, Ruby was very tempted to take her weapon from behind her back to show them how awesome it is, yet sadly, she could never take it out in public except if it's in a dire situation, that's one of the primary rules of going out in public for Ruby.

Ruby noticed how both Yang and Jaune were looking at something seemingly behind herself. She looked behind only to spot no one other than Neo with her usual smug and bright smile. *Ruby, time to go.* She wrote on her scroll. Ruby sighed and told her friends the bad news. "Well, time for me to go guys. But first. Jaune, how often do you come here?" Ruby asked in hopes of seeing her friend again, yet Neo poked her once more. *Ruby, I'm sorry but we have to go NOW.*

"Guys, I'm gonna go now. Yang, can you figure out when Jaune comes here for me? Thanks!" She said, giving each of them a quick hug. The last thing she heard was Yang's reply. "Don't worry Rubes, I got it."

It wasn't long before Ruby was standing in front of the bushes she originally came from. She looked at Neo who wrote something on her scroll. *Sorry, something came up and I had to bring you out of there, Cinder's orders.*

"It's okay, thanks Neo, bye" Ruby gave a slight smile before waving to Neo and walking right into the bushes. She soon emerged into the vast forest she got so used to, she navigated her way to her home without running into any problems. She entered the castle and was greeted by nobody. Strange, but nothing much. She made her way to her room but whilst on her way, she ran into Cinder. "Ruby, Something important is about to happen, come with me."

Ruby followed without question. Soon, she found herself in the meeting hall, sitting on a chair next to Salem's throne, everyone stood up as respect for Salem as soon as she came into the room, she sat on her throne and motioned for everyone to sit and then started the meeting.

"We have gathered here today to talk about something of the utmost importance. You may all know that Cinder was promised the power of the Winter Maiden, but she has been in hiding for over a year now, she most likely will have total control of her power when she emerges, that's why we need to make sure we have enough power to take her down."

Everyone listened closely, even Ruby who didn't fully understand the story of the Maidens yet, she only heard about it a couple of times from Cinder as a story, she knew it was true but never thought of it as something important.

"I've decided that we are to take the powers of the newly-found Fall Maiden before she could grasp how truly powerful she is. But to do that, we must have a candidate, a female one." Salem then switched her eyes to look at Little Ruby who was still sitting beside her.

"Ruby, you will be our Fall Maiden."

* * *

 **Plot twiiiiist!**

 **No, but really. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I certainly did. Please, leave reviews of what you think and see you in the next chapter!**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	18. Chapter 17: Ruby's ruby

**What's up people? Or like Joey would say. How you doing? *Proceeds to silk back hair that was probably unwashed for 10 years.**

 **But in all seriousness, welcome back to another chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood, as you might see in this chapter, I've decided to advance the time by 1 year with each chapter, leaving us with only 3 more chapters before we go to beacon! Yayyyy! (That is excluding the bonus chapter that will probably happen before beacon though.)**

 **Anyway, the bonus chapter is gonna happen soon so if anyone wants their idea to be written I'd advice to start thinking about it now since you'd probably want it to be as best as it could huh? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this 2.6K words chapter!**

 ** _Little Grimm Riding Hood_**

 ** _Chapter 17: Ruby's ruby_**

* * *

"Are you sure it's safe here, Ruby?"

"Yang, I told you. I know this place like the back of my hand!"

"I dunno, I'm getting a bad vibe, maybe we should leave."

"God, Yang. I told you, their's barely any Grimm here as it is! It's perfect for practice."

"I'll take your word for it, just don't get us killed."

"Right here, we're about there."

Yang pushed through a ginormous amount of bushes, following her Twelve-year-old friend even deeper into the forest. When she finally made it through the bushes, she found herself in a clearance in the middle of the forest. Ruby was standing and facing her with a smile, behind her was a large lake with a small waterfall. Surrounded by soft and tall grass. "Wow." Was all that Yang managed to mutter.

"I know!" Her cheerful friend replied. "Come here!" She added before walking towards the lake, she stood right in front of it and waited for Yang to follow, she did and they both stood next to each other, staring at the clear lake water. "This is the most beautiful place in all of the Forever Fall forest." Ruby added.

"This looks so beautiful." Yang now knew why Ruby insisted on bringing swimsuits to the occasion. "Is it safe though?"

"There's some fish but nothing to worry about, don't forget why we came here though."

"Oh, you're right. We'll have plenty of time for this later." Yang explained, her primary reason for coming was Ruby's claim of knowing a location with nothing more than a few Grimm that she could use as practice. She thought it was pretty sketchy at first for someone like Ruby to know such a thing but she learned long ago that Ruby is one weird gal, a weird gal that always keeps her promises nonetheless.

"Exactly, now how about you get ready while I quickly do something. I'll be right back." Ruby replied. Yang watched her go into the bushes they came from just a minute or two ago, she figured that she was most likely wanting to pee. In the meantime, Yang took out her beloved Ember Celica from her duffel bag, putting them on made her feel safe and strong, even if they were just in bracelet form.

Ruby, on the other hand, decided to leave Yang so she can use her powers to locate nearby Grimm without frightening or making Yang wonder anything that would put her status in danger, there was absolutely no way she could let Yang know her true way of life or her family because not only would she have to cut ties with her, but she would most probably be in danger of assassination by Salem's orders.

She crouched on the ground and placed one of her hands on the ground, she then closed her eyes to sense any nearby Grimm. She felt one or two moving towards Yang, nothing that her friend couldn't deal with, that's for certain. Then she saw another two...another, that's another five, oh god it's a pack!

Ruby got up to warn her friend, erupting into the black pile of rose petals she so frequently likes to transform to. She didn't bother doing anything but go straight into the bushes that separate the lake from the rest of the forest. She went straight to the other side, tripping down and falling on her face as soon as she made it.

"Ruby? Are you alright?!" Yang yelled, running towards her friend which had just gotten up like nothing happened.

"Yang, we need to leave. NOW!" She yelled, running past Yang and towards their duffel bags. To Yang's shock, she never saw Ruby so serious in all of their ten years of friendship.

"I-I uhh." Yang watched as Ruby quickly stuffed all the items Yang took out in the duffel bags, not even bothering to decide which item should be in which bag, even if it was as obvious as Yang's swimsuit.

"Yang, come here, you get the bags ready, I'll go do something very quickly." Ruby ordered. Yang stood there, trying to process what on Remnant is happening. "YANG! NOW!" Ruby ordered once more, snapping Yang out of her state and making her actually come over to help. The next thing that shocked Yang was how she could swear that Ruby had just damn disappeared, leaving nothing but a line of Rose petals that would soon dissolve. "Ruby!? What the hell is happening?!" She yelled to no avail.

She quickly stuffed everything else in the bags and strapped them both on her shoulder. Where the hell is Ruby?! She thought.

Her thoughts turned into nightmares as she heard it. * **GRRRR** ***** Those growls she heard were coming from all around her, they were followed by the rustling of bushes around her. "Ruby?" She asked, desperate for this to be nothing more than a weird trick or sick prank from her friend, yet her hopes were shattered as she watched Grimm emerge from all around her. She never fought Grimm before, she didn't even know that these were the common Beowulf which most huntsmen could kill tens of at a time without breaking a sweat.

She hesitated between running for her life or staying to fight, she made up her mind when she thought about what would happen if Ruby came here alone to find all these Grimm, she decided to stay and fight.

Ruby was on her way back, she used her semblance to get all the way to her room in Salem's castle, the castle that was at least an hour away from Forever Fall if the trip is on foot. She remembered how Cinder assured her that she wouldn't need her weapon. "Not gonna need it my ass!" She mumbled under her heavy breath, she had to go all the way back just to get Grimm Rose. she finally made it to the bushes separating her from Yang, she went right through to see Yang screaming on top of her lungs while fighting a pack of Grimm, it was seemingly very hard for her too.

"Yang!" She yelled, earning Yang's attention, which sadly resulted in her concentrating less and earning a claw right to the face, making her fall down and break her Aura.

Ruby watched, terrified as the Grimm surrounded her friend. "Ruby, get out of here!" She heard Yang Yell.

Yang watched as the Grimm grew closer to her face, she accepted her fate, closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. She was about to die, any moment now she will feel mighty claws tearing her skin, right now most probably, now? How about now? surely now? Why isn't anything happening?!

She opened her eyes and to her shock, the Grimm were being absolutely demolished by the Twelve-Year-Old. She was flying everywhere and killing Grimm left and right, she was so fast that Yang couldn't even make out what kind of weapon she was holding that could be responsible for such chaos. Yang kept watching in mouth-dropping awe until Ruby finally dispatched of all the Grimm.

Ruby then came towards her with her hand extended, offering her a helping hand. "I believe I owe you an explanation." Ruby said as she pulled her friend up.

...

Ruby and Yang sat on a log for quite some time, Ruby took the opportunity to explain the situation to her friend.

"So, you're telling me that your sister is a huntress and taught you how to fly in the freaking air?" Yang wondered, half sarcastic and half concerned.

"No, that's my semblance, she only taught me how to fight." Ruby cleared.

"I still can't wrap my head around it, I barely managed to kill three of them, how did you kill all the rest and so fast too!?"

"Call it luck, I don't know... What's important is that you're okay. I'm really sorry, if I knew I wouldn't have brought you here."

"Hah, you think that this would make me mad? Think again Rubes, that was awesome! I'm not leaving before we go swimming too!"

Ruby was happy hearing that, at least the events did not seem to take any toll on Yang's adventurous personality.

Soon enough, both girls grabbed their swimsuits and Yang casually started walking away out of sight to go change. Ruby stopped her by asking. "Yang, where are you going?"

"I'm gonna change, is something wrong?" She said, her two-piece yellow swimsuit with white stripes draw over them in her hand.

"Oh, no no no, I uhh- I- Just, uh. Never mind!" She kept stumbling on her words almost comically, it was even more Cliche when she ran away with her red two-piece swimsuit in hand and then tripped on a branch, falling on the ground and then getting up and running away with a blush on her face.

Ruby was always weird, from day one to this day. That's something Yang got used to long ago and frankly even liked it. Ruby being around almost always led to something unexpected to happen, mostly the good kind of unexpected things too.

Ruby easily put her swimsuit on and made her way back to the lake, she was wearing a two-piece red swimsuit with Black lines drawn on the very top and very bottom, giving them a bit of style.

Yang, on the other hand had some tough time trying to get in her swimsuit as she was growing in...places. Yet she managed to put it on anyway and make her way back to Ruby. Who was for some reason staring directly at her with her mouth open and even drooling.

"Ruby?" She said, trying to ask her what's wrong.

Ruby just kept staring at her, probably not even noticing that she's a living being that was talking to her.

"Ruby!" She said, this time louder and followed by a snap of her fingers next to Ruby's ear. "Ruby, my face is up here." She reminded, and with that, Ruby finally snapped out of it, wiping her mouth and raising her head to meet Yang's eyes.

"Oh, oh! I'm so sorry, I uhh- I didn't mean t-" Ruby was clearly failing to apologize properly which earned a faint chuckle from Yang.

"Geez, you're such a dolt sometimes, Rubes. Come on!" Yang grabbed Ruby by the hand and started pulling her towards the lake. They both stopped in front of the lake when Yang wanted to ask. "It isn't deep, right?"

Ruby was a tad confused since she was sure that Yang could swim. "No, it's not. But aren't you a good swimm-"

"Good!" Yang said before pushing Ruby straight into the lake, half expecting to hear a splash of water. Yet to her surprise, with the blink of an eye, what should have been Ruby splashing hilariously into a pile of water had just transformed into a pile of rose petals. She then felt something poking her from behind. "Loser!" She heard before seeing Ruby with a smile and then being immediately pushed into the water.

She swam up to catch a breath, ready to congratulate Ruby on her victory, yet as soon as she could open her eyes she heard the horrifying yell from Ruby saying. "Incomiiiiiing." Followed by all of Ruby falling straight onto her. Unsurprisingly, both girls dove deep enough to touch the ground at the bottom.

They soon made their way to the surface once more, Yang was especially gasping for air. "You can be really crazy, Ruby." She claimed, earning a laugh and pat on the back from Ruby before she swam away on her back.

"There's more where that came from." She explained before switching her position to go back to Yang.

"Hey, Rubes. I think I saw something down there when we were underwater."

With no words, Ruby took a breath before diving downwards, taking a few moments before finally emerging with something shiny in hand. "What is that?" Yang asked.

"It's...a ruby." Ruby announced, almost shocked.

Yang swam closer to inspect the ruby. "Ruby, aren't Rubies supposed to be red?" Yang asked.

She was right. Ruby thought. Rubies are supposed to be red, but why is this one so dark? It's almost purely black, there were but a few specs in which the color red could be faintly seen.

...

Ruby and Yang had fun, it was dangerous, but fun nonetheless. Yet now, Ruby was laying down in her room after taking a shower and preparing herself for bed. Grimm rose was folded on the nightstand next to her. Yet most importantly, she completely forgot about how she had that ruby Yang and her found in the lake. She took it out of her pocket to inspect it once more.

Taking it out of her pocket, it was still as dark as ever. Yet at first, it used to have a couple of specs that hint of a red color, now Ruby could only spot one of those as if the others simply disappeared. She kept staring at that one spec, something about it was just weird. It wasn't too long before somehowl the spec literally disappeared right in front of Ruby's eyes, leaving nothing but pure blackness for Ruby to stare at. She was shocked even more when the whole thing suddenly started shifting to red, leaving not even the tiniest bit of black all over the ruby.

Then is when Ruby's chest started to burn, she then started to cough and an immense pain found its way to her chest. Lastly was a huge headache that came out of nowhere. It was happening again. Ruby struggled to get off her bed, falling on the ground almost immediately because of how weak her legs grew. She started crawling with all her power towards her nightstand, knowing that her medicine is located in the top drawer, she extended her hand, desperate for it to reach the drawer yet it was to no avail.

She kept struggling until everything started turning dark around her, her consciousness was slowly leaving her, followed by difficulty in breathing and lastly, complete paralysis. What gave Ruby the slightest bit of hope is when she heard a knock on her door. Then she thankfully heard the door handle being turned. "Ruby, you forgot t-" Cinder was stopped in her track as she saw Ruby laying on her back, barely able to breathe and shaking like a fish out of water. "Ruby!" She yelled, running towards her apprentice.

She quickly opened the top drawer and grabbed the pill bottle Ruby so desperately needs. She knelt beside Ruby, lifting her head and forcefully feeding her a pill of Watt's medicine. She watched as it immediately took effect. Ruby's ability to move started returning to her followed by easier breathing.

"Ruby, are you ok?! What happ-" Cinder was interrupted by Ruby launching herself onto her, embracing her so tightly that she would crush most people who aren't as strong as Cinder is, she started crying, presumably because of how terrified she must have been.

"That hurt so much!" Ruby wept, not able to stop crying onto her friend's chest. Cinder started calming her down by patting her back while saying. "It's alright Ruby, you're fine."

The rest of the night consisted of Cinder trying to calm down a broken Ruby who would still burst into tears whenever she remembered the pain in her chest.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the story is definitely picking up pace and the pieces are falling together, oh I can't wait to reveal more eviiiiiiil plot twists and such, you'll all hate me forever!

Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!


	19. Chapter 18: First Blood

**Hello, welcome to another chapter of Little Grimm Riding Hood, now I must announce that the story will be taking a break for about 2 weeks since I'm just about starting the harder exams, which means less time for me to write, until then, I hope you enjoy this 3.2K words chapter!**

 ** _Little Grimm Riding Hood_**

 _ **Chapter 18: First blood**_

* * *

"Ruby, end him."

 _ **~2 hours Earlier~**_

Ruby started regaining her senses, she woke up in her bed, as usual. She took her time getting up, yawning and stretching every couple of seconds. Today was good, why? Because today is one of those days where she had absolutely nothing to do. No tasks, no training, no studying. Just her and her trusty old friend named Mr Bed. Or as she used to call it. Mr SnuggleBuddy.

Her morning was as normal as ever, first was a shower, then she brushed her teeth and made her way to her room again, she had a small mini fridge under her desk since her friends never really bothered to obtain the niceties of a kitchen. A room for each member was more than enough for them, excluding four different bathrooms that is. Salem, on the other hand, did not have a room, it was more of a wing, she'd have everything she needs there, a bedroom, a bathroom, even a small living room with an armchair and lots of bookshelves, Ruby was the only one to see the wing too since it was off-limits for everyone except for her, apparently. Sometimes, she liked to go there and read some stories from Salem's huge collection of books located in a secret library behind her bookshelf.

Opening the fridge, Ruby found nothing but a cookie wrapped in foil. Why the hell would I put a cookie in the fridge? She asked herself. She took it anyway and munched on it as she prepared to go out to get herself some real breakfast. She was allowed to leave when she would want to, not only because she can properly defend herself, but also because of her spiritual connection with Salem which will always let Salem know exactly where she is, should that connection somehow get severed, it would be a problem.

Ruby put on a casual outfit for a fourteen-year-old such as herself, nothing but a pair of jeans that had the knee parts completely cut off in style. And a black t-shirt with the words 'This is my last clean shirt' Written on the front of it, it would have been nothing but a joke to anyone who reads it except if they knew that it actually was her last clean shirt. Lastly, she wore normal sneakers colored with blue to match her jeans.

Making her way down the main hall, she noticed how she was left completely alone in the castle, her teammates were probably on tasks and her leader did like to go for walks in the morning. She decided to leave Grimm Rose behind as this would only take a couple of minutes and even seconds if she used her semblance.

Heading out of the castle, she decided that the use of her semblance would be for no reason, so she enjoyed the breeze of air and sound of nature as she made her way through the forest until she finally reached the gateway between the domain and rest of Remnant. She walked right through the bushes, which felt nothing more than soft silk when touched.

The peaceful sounds of nature were immediately replaced by car horns honking, people talking on their scrolls and the sound of laborers working, it wasn't pleasant, to say the least. Ruby was more used to calm sounds or complete silence since her home is normally very calm and uneventful.

She wasted no time and went on her way, hoping to get back home as soon as possible. There was a convenience store nearby, she only needed to cross the street and walk a couple of minutes before reaching it. She looked to the right then left before crossing the street, she remembered how Hazel and Cinder always fought about which direction she should look at first, for some reason it seemed like a pretty important argument for them, Ruby never really cared though.

She kept on her way until reaching the small store located at the bottom of a fairly tall building, she opened the door and with that, the small ringing of a bell echoed through the store, she then looked at the counter to her right which had a store employee occupying it. "Come right in young lady, take your time!" The store employee said, which was a thin brunette woman, clearly in her mid-thirties.

"Thanks." Ruby replied before turning to look for anything she might crave. Money was never a problem for her, being the daughter of the queen of Grimm came with perks, needlessly to say. She was still browsing the snacks area when she heard the bell ring again and then the employee welcoming another person. She was still torn between chocolate chip cookies or trying the new vanilla chip cookies. Knowing Ruby, she obviously settled on nothing else than buying both.

She already decided on which cereal she'd get though, which was the infamous Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes. She made her way to the counter and was immediately greeted with a smile from the employee. "I'll take those." Ruby said as she set her groceries on the counter. The employee scanned all three items before answering. "That'll be twenty-nine Lien, miss."

Ruby reached into the backpack she brought so she'd carry her stuff easier, from there, she grabbed thirty Lien and handed it over to the employee. "Keep the change." She added before stuffing her groceries into her backpack and turning around to leave. She passed by a tall middle-aged man on her way to the store, he gave her a weird look, seemingly because of her eyes yet she paid no attention. She left the store and crossed the street. Then, annoyingly enough. She realized that she forgot to bring milk for her cereal, she immediately turned around and made her way back to the store, opening the door. This time, instead of hearing a welcome again. She looked beside her to see the same middle-aged man pointing a gun at the store employee.

The ringing of the bell helped him realize that Ruby is back and he immediately turned around and pointed his small pistol at her head. "Stay right there!" He yelled. Ruby was not amused to say the least. In fact, he made her even more annoyed when he yelled once more. "Get down and lay on your stomach! Now!"

Ruby simply took a step towards him, and as expected, he immediately took a step back. A coward, clearly. "I said lay down!" He repeated. This time, Ruby replied with two steps forwards and saying. "Just leave."

The man looked furious as he answered. "Don't mess with me little girl! I'll shoot!" His finger was almost going to pull the trigger by itself, yet Ruby wasn't fazed and kept taking steps towards him until his back was to the corner and her face was only a mere inches away from his, excluding how he was way taller than her, of course.

She used her semblance to snatch the gun from his hand. "This is a fake gun, isn't it?" She asked. Earning nothing but a slight, barely audible whimper from the man, he tried to push her away to escape from the corner, and he was successful as she was taken aback and stumbled a few steps back, yet he still stood no chance as she used her semblance to immediately catch him and kick him hard in the head, knocking him unconscious was the result.

She turned around to face the employee and said. "He'll be out for an hour or two, call the VPD, I just want milk though." And with those words, the employee pointed at the fridge which contained milk, clearly still trying to comprehend what happened. Ruby went ahead and grabbed two jugs. She tried to pay for them but the employee insisted on her taking it for free.

"You don't need to pay for that miss, I can't believe this happened again, you really saved me, thank you." The employee humbly thanked Ruby, but one of her words raised Ruby's curiosity. "Again? This happened to you before?" Ruby asked.

"Yes...I used to work in a flower shop, Dragon's Flower was the name. One evening, an older man came in asking for a rare flower we had, I couldn't sell it to him since it wasn't allowed by my boss. He suddenly pulled a gun on me which magically froze me and stole the flower anyway. I know this seems like a crazy story but it's what happe-"

"I believe you, relax." Ruby cut her off.

 _ **~10 Minutes Earlier~**_

The way back from the store all the way to Ruby's room was as calm as ever, she set her backpack on her desk before crouching to store the milk in her fridge since it grew warm from the trip. Until it would cool down, however, she changed her clothes back to a normal white and plain pajama. She also washed a bowl so she'd eat the cereal.

After preparing her cereal, she grabbed one of the cookie boxes along and went to her mother's library. It was carefully hidden since it would also be used as a hiding chamber if anything would ever storm the castle, the only way to find it was to pull one specific book from Salem's bookshelf that was located in her room, doing so would result in the bookshelf opening as a door, revealing a library that could only be described as gigantic. Full of all kinds of books.

She grabbed the one she was currently working on finishing which was a book titled 'Weapons:The Complete Armory' The book was self-explained just by the title. Ruby's dorky side would never cease to break out if the art that is named 'weapons' would be spoken of.

Ruby's late morning was obviously going to be perfect, food, books, weapons, and most importantly, cookies. Nothing could ever ruin such a good day. And with those positive thoughts, she set her things down on a table and started her pleasant morning.

Yet after nothing but a few minutes, she was rudely interrupted by a message on her scroll. Looking on the screen, it was no one other than her mother, Salem. Which wasn't a problem until she finally read the unpleasant message. *Ruby, make your way to Forever Fall, it's quite urgent.*

Ruby sighed and started finishing up her food quicker, then she got yet another message from Salem. *And bring Grimm Rose.*

With that, it took Ruby nothing but a few minutes to finish her food before annoyingly changing her clothes back to what they were, then she took Grimm Rose and made her way to Forever Fall, this time using her semblance.

The connection between her and Salem always proved useful when she needed to locate her mother or if it was the other way around. They could always find out exactly where the other one is when they wanted, it was like a tracking device that they're both in control of.

Noticing that Salem was near the heart of the forest, Ruby made her way there, using her semblance once more so she would save time. And while on her way, Ruby couldn't help but think about what could be so urgent that Salem herself would call someone to interrupt her walks which usually was nothing but her and complete solitude.

Was it an urgent mission? Was there a problem? Is it related to the Maiden? Were her teammates alright? Was Salem alright? Did she just want her to practice?

The possibilities were too many! Her best bet was to just follow along with the orders and find her dear mother, and she did. But when she did, she wasn't alone.

"Ah, there you are, I was afraid my messages didn't reach you." Salem explained, yet Ruby was way too busy inspecting something that was in front of Salem. Or someone, to be exact. She answered, tentatively. "No, mother. But who is that?" Pointing at the man who was quite literally kneeling in front of her beloved mother.

Salem responded with no signs of any hesitation. "This, dear child. Is nothing but a nuisance to our cause, or a huntsman, as people call them. I prefer the term 'maggots'" She said, her grin widening and her eyes switching to his, making his heart uneasy just by seeing the evil of Salem's eyes.

It wasn't long before Ruby interrupted though. "And why did you call me? You look like you have everything sorted out." With those words, Salem's grin widened to a full smirk, then a smile, then a chuckle. "Dear Ruby, you realize how you're going to kill the Maiden one day? Correct?" She reminded.

Ruby's eyes widened. The day she discovered that the only way to get the Maiden's power was killing her was arguably one of the worst days of her life. Ruby was completely against killing someone, even a lowly Huntsman or Maiden. The idea of stripping someone of everything in nothing but a second always bought horror to her but it wasn't like she could do anything about it, her mother's wishes were the law, plain and simple. She kept stuttering as she said her next few words. "Y-yes, mother. I k-know."

Ruby still couldn't stop thinking about it, killing someone? Why would anyone do that? She could understand killing Grimm but humans? The more time the Maiden's location remains unknown the better. Or at least that's what Ruby thought, but that's when she finally realized why she was here. "Mom...why did you bring me here?" She asked, hoping for anything but the answer she expected.

Salem's grin was reduced to a completely neutral face, a more contained face expression, nothing but a plain and cold look as she looked at the man who was bound and muffled, then she looked at little Ruby and the words of horror escaped her lips. "Ruby, end him."

...

"B-but Mom! I can't just kill someone! I-I-I don't know if I can, I'm not read-" Ruby's begging was interrupted by Salem. "Ruby, you are ready. We are getting close to finding the Maiden and I can't help but worry that your inexperience would get the better of you when the time has come, you need to do as I ask."

"But Mom! What if he has a fam-"

"IF he has a family, and that is unlikely for a Huntsman. I would still trust that you wouldn't want to disappoint your own family now would you, Ruby?"

"Mom, I...Can't do this!" Ruby's more composed style of talk was changed into a more stern one as she started raising her voice.

"If you were in his shoes he'd show you no mercy." Salem claimed, still maintaining a completely emotionless yet somehow respectful way of speaking, as if she knew death was a big deal, no matter who it is that dies.

"But I'm not him! I'm not as bad as him! He's a monster but I'm not! You keep telling me about how they kill people for amusement, how they steal and use their fame for an easy life, that's HIM, not ME!" Ruby shot back. Tears starting to fill her eyes.

"They treat us as monsters Ruby, that's why we show them our monstrous side, it's the side they think we are." Salem said before mumbling one more thing under her breath, so quiet that Ruby couldn't hear it. "And they're not wrong." Was what she mumbled.

"But that would prove them right! We'd prove that we are monsters! We're too good for this!"

"So what will you do when you need to dispatch of the Maiden? Stand there and complain about how you're too good to do it? We are the ones who don't hold back, the ones who are willing to go beyond our own morals for what we want, what we deserve. That's the difference between us and them, that's why they fear us because we simply are stronger."

Ruby was about to argue even further before Salem interrupted her. "Ruby, we simply won't be speaking of this once more, you will kill this man and if you really must, I will respect your privacy and let you have this kill done alone, without anyone watching you."

Ruby knew that there was no way around it, she knew it from the beginning but it was now just confirmed, when Salem says that there is no room for argument then there is no room for argument, plain and simple. "Fine!" She yelled, extending Grimm Rose and pulling the man to a private spot by the ropes tied around him. "I'll be waiting here." Salem reminded as Ruby disappeared into the trees.

...

A few minutes passed as Salem waited for Ruby's return, and as promised, she never tried to know or see what Ruby was doing. She had too much experience to not realize how important yet devastating the first kill could be, someone watching Ruby could make her feel even more guilty which would make her develop a resentment to taking anyone's life, not that it was good to always be heartless when killing, Salem knew that. She was still following the one rule that she had all of her life, the same rule that was the primary result of her finding Ruby in the first place. The rule that all life, no matter what it is, has value to it. Yet that still never stopped the Grimm Queen from killing those who she found unworthy of life, which was nearly everyone she sees.

Soon enough, Ruby emerged from the bushes with a bloody sword-shaped Grimm Rose in hand and multiple stains of blood covering her face and clothes. "Are you happy now?!" Ruby said angrily. Luckily for her, Salem knew how she felt with killing for the first time, she decided to not be too harsh on her for talking with such attitude.

"Yes Ruby, you made me very proud." She said, using her thumb to wipe off the blood from Ruby's cheeks. "You'll make us even prouder, I can guarantee, for now, however, how about you stay with me here in the forest?"


	20. Chapter 19: A New Task

**So, I apologize in advance if this chapter is a bit rusty when it comes to the writing, I had a huge block when it comes to writing these past days, thankfully I found it in me to write this chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter which is 4.1K words in length.**

 ** _Little Grimm Riding Hood_**

 ** _Chapter 19: A New Task_**

* * *

"Don't forget your medicine."

"Yes, mom."

"And your ammo."

"Yes, Sis"

"And your Dust."

"Got it, mom."

"What about your scroll?"

"Guys! I've got everything, stop panicking." Ruby assured as she zipped her duffel bag tightly.

Cinder sighed. "Fine, just don't forge-"

"Cinderrrr, I'm fine, really."

Salem interrupted. "It is fine, Cinder. Ruby, we shall wait for you at the gateway, take your time, you won't be able to come back."

Ruby nodded as both Cinder and Salem left her room. It took her little time as she made sure she left nothing behind, she made her way to the door, opening it and stepping a foot outside, yet just as her foot touched the ground, the thought hit her. She looked back at her room, it's been emptied leaving nothing but the bed behind, a bit of grief struck her heart as she remembered how she won't ever be seeing the room for almost two years.

She took one last peek as she closed the door behind her, walking through the castle with her bag in hand and thoughts swarming her brain, all that she saw in her 14 years of life will disappear like it never existed before, it wasn't what she wanted, but her eagerness to make her mother and family proud was beyond all else. She walked through the halls, trying to picture every detail so she'd at least remember it, it might not have been much but it was still her home.

Soon, she found herself in front of the main door to the castle, she tentatively raised her hand to the handle, turning it and watching it open ever so slowly, a glimmer of sunlight emerged from the creak as the door opened, shining onto her eyes. She sighed as she stepped outside into the forest, closing the door behind her and taking a deep breath before starting to walk away, yet an urge beat her as she forced herself to turn around and face the castle one more time, just one more glance before leaving was all she asked for.

She made her way through the forest, the shining of sunlight and pleasant breezes of air giving her great enjoyment and succor in her time of hardship. Every second that passed she spent thinking about her journey, will it be as hard as Salem explained? Will she fail? Will she succeed? Only time was to show if fate would be kind to her or not.

She finally made it to the one line of bushes that separates her mother's domain from the rest of Remnant, and as expected. Her friends were there, all of them. Salem, Cinder, Watts, Hazel, and even Tyrian.

She smiled as she approached them all, it was bittersweet, really. She was happy everyone was here, it wasn't every day that all the team gets to group up, yet it wasn't for the reason she would have wanted.

She first made her way to Hazel, who smiled happily as she approached him. "Take care of yourself, you little devil." He instructed jokingly, A chuckle escaped Ruby's lips as she answered. "I will, you too." She soon tried hugging the tall man which obviously didn't work since he was so tall, yet in no time she found him lifting her up, helping her reach his shoulders, they both gave each other a friendly warm hug before Ruby finally moved onwards, to Watts.

As she approached, she witnessed the classic Watts, wanting to talk nicely to her but his nature never allowed him to do so, she got used to it and took it as a joke most times when he did things like this. "Heh, at least I'm going to get a break from you and your deliriousness."

"Ha-Ha, so funny. Come here." She said as she pulled him by his clothes into a tight hug, the man stayed silent as he reluctantly returned the hug, Ruby smiled as they hugged, she knew she embarrassed him, if she's gonna leave she might as well leave in style, but deep down, she knew he wanted that hug.

Not long after that, she moved to the weirdest of the bunch, Tyrian. Who was somehow both eagerly and boringly waiting for her at the same time. She approached him and as the Faunus he is, of course he was the first to talk. "The little Grimm Princess will leave the nest of her queen, how saddening and exciting at the same time!"

As always, Ruby got confused by his cryptic and vague poems. "Will you please stop speaking like that? I don't want to decipher everything you say when I'm back." Ruby said sarcastically. She then stretched her hands, inviting him to a hug, he immediately took a step back an motioned a 'no' with his hand. "Uh uh, no hugging." He said with a grin.

"Fine." Ruby said casually, Tyrian was taken aback with her casual response, he couldn't react however as she quickly grabbed a hold of his tail and squeezed. "Ow!" He yelled in pain as he snatched his tail back, Ruby started laughing as he looked at her unpleasantly. "That's what you get!" She said as she continued to laugh, Tyrian kept his expression as steady as he can but he soon gave out as he both started smiling and chuckling. "Oh, just you wait until you're back little princess." he said, earning a smile from her. "I'll be looking forward to that." She said, she then moved on after they both settled for a small high-five.

Now she faced Cinder, who was clearly worried sick. "You know, you could still stop this now, you don't have to g-" Ruby interrupted before Cinder could finish her sentence. "No, Cinder, I won't, not again. Besides, I'm sure I'll be fine, I was taught by the best fighter after all!" She said excitedly. Cinder tried hiding her worry by attempting a smile as both she and Ruby hugged tightly, a sisterly hug in many ways. "Don't forget to keep in touch." Cinder reminded, earning one of those small happy and cheerful nods Ruby always made since she was young.

Soon enough, Ruby finally found herself in front of her mentor and mother, Salem herself. Unlike with the others, Ruby didn't know what kind of approach to take, Salem was so unpredictable. Yet to her luck Salem was the one starting to talk. "Cinder is right, child. You don't have t-"

Ruby wasted no time, interrupting her mother as she did Cinder. "No! Salem, I'm going to do this and I'm not going to fail again, I promise, just trust me." With those words, Salem was left defenseless, how could she not trust her? How could she even try to stop her from doing the one thing she was eager to do so she can prove herself once more? She sighed as she answered. "And I will be doing exactly that, you have my full trust, child. But do not get reckless, if you need a way out or help, you'll always have that scroll of yours, now off you go, and don't look back." Salem ordered.

Ruby stayed in place, looking at Salem, thinking of murmuring one last thing, Salem's curiosity got the better of her as she asked. "Something on your mind, child?" With that question, Ruby's face immediately turned red. "I-I uh, can I- May we."

"Spit it out already child!" She ordered with great curiosity of what's to come out of her so-called daughter's mouth.

Ruby took a deep breath and collected her strength before finally spitting it out. "Uhh...CanIHugYou?!" She yelled at great speed, Salem barely able to distinguish the words. "H-Hug?" Salem asked in great shock. Right now? In front of everyone? That's why Ruby was tentative, she knew she shouldn't ask that in front of her teammates but it was her last chance to have what she wanted, Salem couldn't possibly refuse. "We may, child."

The rest of the team tried their best to stay silent and respectful as they watched Ruby hug Salem, holding their shock in was hard as it is, the laughing they wanted to let out was the worst part. Yet they all luckily managed to hold it in. Salem, on the other hand, had the biggest blush on her face, yet thankfully no one could see it thanks for the fact that she had her back turned towards them.

Ruby, on the other hand, didn't care, she was too busy enjoying the warm embrace of her mother, an embrace that made her feel safe and strong, it was too bad that she's not going to feel it again for a more than a long time.

When it finally ended, Ruby looked at everyone around her, the people she grew up with are suddenly going to be as if they never existed for almost two years, the fourteen-year-old could still only hardly believe it, but it's the choice she made. Glancing at each of them one last time, she smiled before waving and turning around to walk through the bushes, leaving everything behind.

...

As she emerged to the other side of the bushes, she picked up her scroll and chose Yang so she could text her. She started typing on the scroll before she finally hit send.

*Yang, I'm almost there.*

It wasn't long before Yang's icon flashed green, indicating she came online. Soon, her icon started glowing, indicating that she was typing something. It was soon that Ruby received a message.

*I'll be waiting, just hurry up, you got me all worried here.*

Ruby replied *I'm sorry, it's just that you're the only one I trust to talk about this! I'll be there soon.*

Yang sent a series of smiley faces before replying. *You know I always got your back girl, now get your butt ova here, it's darn cold.*

With that, Ruby pocketed her scroll and went on her way to the park, she had already told Yang there was something to talk about, something important. She'd hoped to keep Yang out of all of this but she was her best bet until next year, she had her backup plans but it didn't stop her from seeking out Yang before all else.

It wasn't long before she found herself in the park, Yang waving at her cheerfully. She made her way to her friend who happily greeted her with a hug. "Sup, Rubes." She said casually as they hugged. "A lot, can we go sit somewhere?" Ruby replied, earning a nod from Yang before they both made their way to the nearest bench, they both sat down and Ruby took a deep breath. "So, Yang. I don't really know where to start with this..."

"Well, whatever it is. I'll hear all of it." Yang said trying to reassure Ruby before giving her a slight nudge on the back.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Ruby explained, she then added. "I'll spare you the details."

As time went on, Ruby explained everything she and her family carefully planned, careful to not let anything unbelievable out of her mouth.

"So, let me get this straight. Your sister, which was a huntress in training, was actually a thief all along?"

"Correct."

"And your mother was helping her?"

"Correct."

"And all these years, your sister trained you to be a huntress but just now you discovered that she's only wanted you to join the family...business?"

"Yeah."

"This is a lot to take in, Ruby."

"I know! I'm sorry to vent it out on you like that, but you're the only one I ca-"

"Nonsense, Ruby. I'm more concerned about what you're going to do now. Why not call the police?"

"I-I can't, I won't be able to prove anything and they'll just hand me back to them. I also never got an exact home, we were always on the move."

"How come you have no proof? How did you know in the first place? Surely there must be something?"

"I knew because my sister told me to start working with them, nobody will believe me if I only have that as proof."

Yang sighed, she started thinking of ways to help her friend but it wasn't easy to come up with something on the spot and especially after receiving such sudden and shocking news such as this, it wasn't long before Ruby spoke once more. "I guess I'm just going to keep up what I trained for, I'll become a huntress and when I'm strong enough I'll set things right with them, bring them to justice."

"And how do you plan on becoming a huntress?"

"Well, it's quite easy, huntress academies take people from the ages of seventeen and above, but you can join at the age of fifteen if you prove yourself worthy, I'm nine months away from being fifteen, I guess I'll just wait until I can prove myself."

"And where will you live?! Have you got anyone to help you?"

"Well, that's the problem, I think I'm going to have to...well, live out here."

Yang's fists tightened and her eyes started glowing red with the words she just heard. "Are you kidding me?! Live here?! That's insane!"

It was going well, Yang's been showing all kinds of reactions that Ruby needed to proceed with her plan, she knew it was almost certain for her to be like this, worrying about her friends was one of her most noticeable qualities, she'd lose an arm for a friend, she made it clear with many heroic acts before, saving Ruby from all kinds of trouble, taking the blame for things she hadn't done, it was just in her personality.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"You're coming with me, that's what's going to happen." Yang said with authority as she stood up from the bench.

"But Yang, I can't do that, I can't just come between you and your fam-"

"Ruby! You're coming with me and that's final, I'm not letting you stay on the streets."

"B-but Ya- OW." Ruby was interrupted by Yang pulling her up from the bench by her hand, she was immediately crushed as Yang forced her into a tight hug.

"Ruby, you only need nine months, right?" Yang said as she had no idea that Ruby couldn't breathe from the tightness of the embrace. "Y-Yes Yang, but I ca- I can't b-"

She was interrupted by Yang pulling her even tighter for the hug. "Then you're spending them with me, besides, we can then go to Beacon together." She said, Ruby didn't even bother the act by this point, she was supposed to say yes anyway, no need to extend her misery. "Yes, Yang I'll come, let me breathe!" She yelled with all her might, finally, Yang noticed how she almost crushed her friend, immediately letting her go and watching her quickly crumble onto the seat once more, gasping for air.

"Great, Rubes. I know it'll be awesome!"

...

Ruby and Yang stayed together till late evening, which was usually when Yang's father would finish his work in Vale, Yang had already texted him the details of Ruby needing a shelter so she'd save both her and Ruby the embarrassment of asking face to face, and as expected, her father welcomed any friend of her that was in need, especially one that he knew for eleven years. But Yang was still careful to not let him know the details of why Ruby ran away from her family.

When they finally spotted Yang's father coming from the horizon, both Yang and Ruby started making their way to him, Ruby clearly more nervous of what is to come. Yang, on the other hand, knew her father, he would be very welcoming of her fellow friend, Ruby.

It was soon that they finally ran into him, Yang gave Ruby a reassuring look before turning to speak to her father. "Dad, I already told you, but Ruby needs a new home for a while."

Ruby was quick to add, making sure to not leave her friend in the spotlight. "Sir, I'm really sorry to bother you b-"

"Pssht, shush it, you're practically family, kid. You're welcome to stay for as long as you need!" The man reassured without letting Ruby finish her sentence. Ruby liked his generosity, it was something he showed almost every time she met him, too bad she knew that he wouldn't accept her if he knew her true purpose.

"Thank you, sir, I really appreciate it." Ruby replied, looking down at the ground, a bit embarrassed, even out of character.

"Nothing to worry about, now how about we go get something to eat? I'm starving! It's a long way back home." Taiyang offered, already trying to make Ruby feel at home as much as he can.

...

After reaching Yang's humble home and being warmly welcomed by both her and her father, Ruby finally found herself alone in a room they offered her, Yang assured her to ask for anything if she ever needed it, everything was thankfully going perfectly, Ruby soon took out her scroll before making sure the coast was clear, she brought up her texting app before choosing her so-called sister and teacher, Cinder.

*I'm at Yang's home, it's all going great, tell mom and the others. Going to bed now.* Was what Ruby sent before waiting for a reply from Cinder, she soon got one. *Great, keep a low profile and don't raise suspicion, make us proud, good night.*

Ruby turned off her scroll after reading the text, looking around her room, she found it really comforting, she had a big comfortable bed, a nightstand with a drawer next to it, a window above her bed which had a view of the nature outside Yang's humble home, almost reminding her of her own room's window view. She also noticed a comfy armchair which would really help her when reading comics. Lastly was a small bookshelf which she had already stored all of her comics on.

Deciding to call it a night, Ruby laid on her bed and closed her eyes, thinking about how amazing this whole mission could be if done right, it wasn't every day that she got to go on such huge missions, especially after her recent failure, a failure she didn't want to remember in any way, yet she sadly had no choice as she drifted into sleep, not realizing that she'd dream of exactly that one failure she never wanted to remember.

 ** _*Dream*_**

"Ruby, she's coming, get into position. Emerald, start the illusions. Mercury, prepare to ambush her." Cinder ordered her two helpers and her teammate Ruby. They all listened, mercury hid inside a bush, Ruby did as well but on the other side of the road, Emerald stayed hidden next to Cinder as she started her Illusions.

Ruby watched Emerald at work, her semblance was a masterpiece, she watched the cowardly maiden who only pretends to help people crouch to the ground, offering an apple to nothing but thin air, thinking it was a child in need, no wonder she'd only trick the child if there actually was one.

Cinder finally felt like it was their best chance of attack, and with nothing but a signal with her hand, both Ruby and Mercury launched towards the maiden, Ruby reached her first, drop kicking her to the side of her head, what helped even more was the fact that Mercury did the same, but instead of kicking her to the other side of her head, he decided to deliver the blow to her legs, a kick from Ruby to the head and a kick from Mercury to the legs from the other side caused the unaware Maiden to immediately flip and fall on her back, Ruby used her semblance to immediately deliver another kick to the Maiden's face as she was on the ground, after that, she watched Emerald come closer for her own attack.

Ruby backflipped out of the way, only giving the Maiden a milli-second to see Emerald come straight from above, delivering a slash with her chained weapons straight to the Maiden's shoulder. Cinder saw the Maiden slowly get back to her feet, she wasted no time as she immediately ran towards her, the Maiden couldn't even react as Cinder quickly summoned shortened glass spear and slid to the ground, delivering a mighty swing with the weapon to the Maiden's stomach, as if she was using a bat. The maiden quickly fell to her knees. The amazing head-start the team had against the Maiden had already done most of the work, Ruby was the last to attack as she used her semblance to gain speed, only making the kick to the Maiden's face ten times stronger. The Maiden finally fell flat on her back, never having a chance against the quick and smart teamwork from the team fighting her.

Ruby was above happy, they already beat the Maiden, now was the final push, she was to take the Maiden's power. She and her friends surrounded the near unconscious Maiden, Cinder gave Ruby a pat on the back. "She's all yours." She said, Ruby nodded as she knelt beside the Maiden, ready to use her Grimm powers to absorb the power, she placed her hand on the Maiden's forehead, all she had to do was absorb the power and thus killing the Maiden.

Yet that's when the trouble started...

Ruby found herself unable to do it, she suddenly and with no clear reason hesitated to do it. "Ruby, what's wrong?" Cinder asked, curious about why Ruby took so long to start absorbing the power.

"I- I- I- I...Can't." Ruby lifted her hand from the Maiden's head. "I can't do this again..." She said, much to everyone's shock.

"What on Remnant do you mean?" "Cinder asked, trying to maintain her composure, yet it wasn't easy to do that with such sudden and shocking news.

"I can't kill...not again." Ruby explained, her whole body started to shake before she stood up and shamingly stood next to her teacher. Looking straight to the ground, afraid of any eye contact.

"Ruby, seriously? Now you say this?!"

"I- I'm sorry."

Cinder sighed and rubbed sweat off her forehead. "Fine, we'll see to this later." She said before moving closer to the Maiden. Ruby watched as Cinder put on a long white glove bearing the symbol of a Grimm. Cinder extended her hand towards the maiden's face, a small bug-like Grimm emerged from Cinder's hand. "Please...no." The Maiden begged before the Grimm spit thick black webs onto her face. Ruby watched as Cinder's body started glowing with golden colors.

Yet what nobody expected happened, Ruby and her team were shocked to suddenly see a middle-aged man with a huge greatsword fall from the air, cutting the webs that connected the Maiden and Cinder. Before Ruby could even react to the situation, Cinder caused a great explosion from her newly-found powers, surrounding the whole area with smoke, Ruby was suddenly Grabbed by Cinder who whispered in her years. "Use your semblance, get us out of here." She whispered inside the smoke, making sure the man wouldn't hear them. Ruby complied as she held Cinder's hand and used her semblance to immediately burst both her and Cinder out of the place. Emerald and Mercury had already both escaped using Emerald's semblance.

Ruby kept running, pulling Cinder with her until they finally reached a safe distance.

To this day, this remains her greatest ever failure and shame, Ruby wanted to change it in any possible way, she failed to kill the Maiden and as a result, she will be the one to go to the one place the Maiden can be hidden in, she was to go to Beacon Academy, the only place safe enough to hold something as dangerous as a Maiden. Ruby was to go there and finish what she started, she was to kill the Maiden.

* * *

 **So, yeah. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the writing might be specifically rusty in the last 1k words, hopefully it bothers little. That said, great news! We can finally and after all these chapters, go to Beacon! Yayyyy.**

 **Though I'd like to ask you readers a thing, would you actually like Beacon next chapter? Or would you like one more chapter in which I show how Ruby's temporary life with Yang's family is like? It's your choice, please leave it in the reviews. See you next chapter!**

 _ **Much Love! Stay hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	21. Chapter 20: Beacon Of Hope

**We're here people! Volume.1 Chapter.1**

 **Now, I have to apologize in advance because this will not only be an important Author Note but a loooooong one.**

 **So, first off, as many people would, without doubt, want to know, will I be following the episodes from the main show? That's a thing a lot of people tend to do when writing a similar story to this one, but here's a short Explanation of what I will be doing, I'm not going to be following the episodes from the main show, at least not entirely, I will definitely include a lot from the cannon but there's still going to be a lot of things that I come up with myself, that said, important events like the field trips and such will definitely be included, so you might say that I'm following cannon but 'technically' That's not what I'm doing since the whole point of Ruby being in Beacon is different, in fact, it couldn't be more different than the cannon.**

 **Secondly, I was really torn between writing or not writing a chapter about Ruby living with Yang, but I've made a decision, I'm going to include a flashback at the end of every chapter, the flashback will be about Ruby and her time with Yang's family, the flashbacks will be about 1k words long and will start in chapter.**

 **Thirdly, I know some people are thinking. "Wait? Wouldn't Tai at least be suspicious of Ruby because she looks nearly identical to Summer?" Well, here's what I have to say, first off, would someone actually doubt the whole identity of someone JUST because they look very similar to someone they used to know? Secondly, I don't know this personally because I obviously did not experience it, I don't how much a father will remember about his daughter that was missing for fourteen years, but I'm pretty sure Tai at least would remember that she had two silver eyes, the Ruby in front of him has a black eye and a silver eye, wouldn't someone remember it if their daughter had heterochromic eyes? That fact alone would throw him off a LOT if he would ever doubt Ruby's identity. Lastly, to anyone who might feel like I was too lazy or afraid to write something like Tai being suspicious of Ruby, I guess the best thing I can offer you is some of that material in the flashbacks.**

 **Quadruply (bear with me please). All of you who have been following the story for a while will definitely know that I have no specific update schedule and that I tend to update this story on random days out of the blue, and I sometimes like to update it twice a week too. Well, writing the story now will not exactly be more challenging but it will require a lot more work since now I need to be extra careful of not breaking something in the Cannon show and to do that I probably have to watch each episode at least twice before starting to write, not that I'm complaining, I love watching RWBY. But to help make things easier for me I've decided to make the chosen update day for this story Sunday, and if I ever feel the need to update again in the same week then the update will be Thursday. So, to make things clear, Every week on Sunday there will be an update, and sometimes I'll update twice a week, the second time would be Thursday.**

 **Lastly, I am currently finishing up the last chapter of another fanfiction of mine, when I upload it I will have more time to write but instead of using it all on this fiction I'll use some time to start the writing of another long-term story, it's going to be about Jaune and Ruby, they're both criminals and work for Roman. So, yeah. Not all my time will be used in writing Little Grimm Riding Hood. That said, I still promise you at least one chapter a week.**

 **Sorry again for the long A/N, I know they are boring to read. Please enjoy the chapter. This one is 3.9K words long.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood.**_

 _ **Chapter 20: Beacon Of Hope**_

* * *

It was late at night in the highly populated city of Vale, yet even such a busy city needed its rest, that included both the citizens and the stores. Yet there were a few stores which were open late at night such as the most well know dust and magazine shop in all of Vale, From Dust Till Dawn. The same store which currently had no one other than two people inside it, the first being the soon-to-be huntress-in-training, Ruby. The second being an old man that everyone merely refers to as 'Old man shopkeep' A nickname that nobody even knew if he liked or not.

Ruby was crouching on the ground, excitedly reading the new issue of her favorite comic titled. "Weapons: The Complete Armory" Yet she never forgot her primary reason for being there, she was patiently waiting for a turn of events, the turn of events that would most likely be her last shot at entering Beacon Academy. She had already done everything she could possibly do to earn going to Beacon. She took all the tests and passed, she took multiple physical tests and passed, she even sparred with a huntress-in-training and won. That alone would have been enough for her to earn an early place in Beacon, yet sadly. The man who used to observe and judge people who wanted to enter huntsmen academies early or without any documents from a combat school was replaced by a new woman, Glynda Goodwitch. The woman was so strict and so much of a perfectionist that even Ruby couldn't get accepted into Beacon under her watch, not mentioning the other one-hundred students that all of which also did not pass. To make it clear, it wasn't Ruby's fault that she couldn't make it into Beacon.

But she wasn't going to give up so easily, she always had some sort of support from her allies, and with a simple text she and Cinder prepared a great show, Ruby was to wait for one of Cinder's pawns, named Roman Torchwick. He would try to rob the shop and Ruby was the one playing the hero, the plan was simple, stop Roman, get noticed, get to talk the headmaster directly, convince him to let her into Beacon, and boom, all she would have to do is find the Maiden. Not that it will be easy of course.

Yet one thing that annoyed Ruby was the fact that Roman was already twenty minutes late, there were few things that bothered young Ruby more than someone being late, those things by example would be running out of cookies, wrong facts about weapons in magazines, and of course, Taiyang's jokes. She'd want to strangle herself whenever she hears them, it becomes even worse when Yang joins in on the fun. Then she'd want to both strangle herself and both of them. With all that aside, however, Ruby did absolutely hate it when people are late for meetings, a part of that is thanks to the fact that she is never late, she's actually often early, partly-...actually, mostly due to her semblance.

She patiently waited for Roman to come, reading her comic to pass time and always checking her scroll to see if she got any texts from Cinder. Another half an hour passed as she boringly kept waiting, pretending to still read the comic which she had actually already finished, she decided to pass time quicker by putting on her headphones and listening to some music, a few songs into her PlayList and Ruby suddenly felt someone poking her shoulder.

Ruby turned around to face the person engaging her, immediately noticing how he was dressed extremely formally, a full black suit with a red tie and black shoes, he also wore black glasses which had red lenses and finally a fully black top hat. The man pointed at his own ear, indicating that he wanted Ruby to take off her headphones. She complied as she removed them and answered the man simply. "Yes?"

"I said put your hands in the air, now!" The man ordered, much to Ruby's confusion, this man was definitely not the Roman Cinder had told her about.

"Are you...Robbing me?" She asked, eyes immediately observing her surroundings, she noticed something which explained the situation, There were three more men wearing the exact same outfit as the man mugging her, and finally, a man with orange hair, a horrible hat, and a cane, kneeling on the counter while the others did their work, Ruby quickly put one and two together, the man mugging her was Roman's henchman.

Ruby's thoughts were interrupted when the man answered her. "Yes!"

"Ohhh." Was the only thing that escaped her mouth before the henchman found himself tossed to the other side of the shop, hitting his head on the wall and multiple random items falling on his head, knocking him unconscious. It was after that when Roman used his head to motion towards the direction where the man was tossed from, indicating his gun-armed henchman to go investigate. The man made his way to the back of the store only to find a young teenage girl standing in place. He never hesitated as he drew his pistol and aimed it at her. "Freeze!" He commanded.

Roman wasn't surprised when the man he sent to investigate came back, what surprised him was how he was thrown from the other side of the shop through the glass, breaking it and landing unconscious on the road outside the shop. Yet he wasn't alone. The girl, Ruby. Was next to his sleeping body, only she was standing up. His men rushed outside and surrounded the girl, a move he knew was going to end up with most of them regretting. Cinder had already explained to Roman that Ruby wasn't to be harmed, yet just looking at her, Roman felt like his men were probably the ones who should be fearing for their lives.

Soon enough, Ruby drew her beloved weapon, Grimm Rose. Swinging it intimidatingly around herself, it was intimidating enough that all the henchmen took a few steps back. The first of the henchmen moved in, aiming his red sword towards Ruby's head. He didn't even stand a chance as he found her boot colliding with his face. The second moved in, this one had a bat, he tried feinting a strike from the right then surprising Ruby by an attack from the left, yet the man did not put her semblance into consideration, he was knocked to the ground before he could even finish feinting the first strike.

It kept going on for a few seconds but Ruby finally knocked out henchmen, she watched Roman step out of the shop, he pulled a breath from his cigar before dropping it on the ground and extinguishing it by crushing the burning part with his cane, he looked at his men with annoyance in his eyes. "You were worth every cent, truly you were." He said, if Ruby remembered correctly, this was the part of the plan where he would run and she would act as if she was chasing him. "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful night, and as much as I'd love to stick around," Ruby watched as he lifted his cane off the ground, aiming it towards her. There was something Cinder had warned her about relating to this cane, she just couldn't quite remember it. "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

Suddenly, Ruby heard a click from Roman's direction, only her lightning-quick reflexes saved her from an incoming explosion, she used her semblance to hurl herself out of the way. After the smoke had cleared, Ruby looked around herself, immediately noticing Roman climbing a ladder to the roof of a building. She burst into speed, catching up to Roman just before he reached the edge of the building. "Hey!" She yelled, Roman turned around, giving her a wink, immediately after that was when a huge airship flew upwards behind Roman, he immediately jumped on it. "End of the line, Red!" He yelled, throwing an explosive dust in front of Ruby's feet, he immediately followed up by an explosive shot from his cane.

Ruby closed her eyes, preparing her aura to absorb the damage, it was a part of the plan after all. Yet thankfully, a huntsman showed up, earlier than expected, but still better than having to be blown up. The Huntsman formed a protective wall around him and Ruby, Ruby waited for the smoke to clear and only then did she notice something, this wasn't a huntsman, it was a Huntress and not just a huntress, it was the woman who rejected her going into Beacon!

Ruby watched in awe, the huntress had amazing abilities. She watched as the woman fired countless spells at the airship, it was beginning to look as if the airship couldn't take much more damage, especially after the huntress had summoned what seemed to look like a mini-storm, causing solid icicles to impale the airship, it wasn't looking too good for the plan, but that was when Ruby spotted someone standing inside the airship, staring straight at her. They couldn't see the woman due to her face being hidden by shadows, but Ruby knew who it was, that dress? Those shining eyes filled with rage and fire? That was definitely Cinder.

Ruby immediately noticed Cinder's hand movement, realizing it was a rune spell, she immediately looked at her feet and noticed a rune forming under her, she was prepared to dodge out of the way but was beaten by the huntress using some kind of force to pull her away, Ruby face planted on the floor. She soon staggered back to her feet only to find the Runes forming once more, this time, determined to not face plant again, Ruby used her semblance to quickly dash out of the way of the explosion in a millisecond. Soon enough, she and the Huntress were exchanging looks, Ruby quickly decided to change that by changing her weapon into gun form and starting to shoot bullets aimed at Cinder, and as expected, she blocked all of them.

Ruby's concentration was all focused towards the constant barrage of bullets she was blazing, she had to make sure she was in no suspicion under the law, and what better way to do that than fire at a criminal? Yet her concentration wasn't focused on the great number of runes forming under her feet, at least ten of them had formed before she finally realized it. It was time to brace herself for impact, no doubt that such a huge explosion would hurt, even with the protection of aura, yet to Ruby's extreme luck, the huntress was quick to pull Ruby out of the way of danger and then jump to safety herself, the explosion barely had an effect on them both, and by the time Ruby had gotten up and looked back at the airship the doors were already closing, yet just by the tip of the eye, Ruby noticed one last thing before Cinder's eyes were covered, it might have been an illusion, but Ruby could swear that she spotted a wink.

...

"I hope you realize your actions tonight won't be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger!" Glynda explained, circling around Ruby as she sat in her chair inside a dark room with nothing but a few dim lights.

"They started it!" Ruby tried explaining, only earning an unamused look from the Huntress. "If it were up to me, you'd be sent home...with a pat on the back." The woman said as she halted moving, giving Ruby a bit of hope and happiness. "And a slap on the wrist!" She added with a stern voice, Ruby barely had time to get her hand off the table after noticing the horsewhip moving towards her hand, no doubt that would have hurt if it collided with her hand. "But, there is someone here that would like to see you." The woman explained before moving out of the way of the open door.

Ruby soon noticed a silhouette of a person before an older man stepped into the room, one hand holding a coffee mug, the other holding a plate containing a whole batch of cookies. "Ruby Xiao Long," The man said as he stood in front of the other end of the table. "You...have a- a Black eye?" He added, it almost sounded like a question to Ruby. "U-Umm" Ruby couldn't think of anything to say, especially since the man was obnoxiously close to her face, examining her eyes. He finally stepped back, allowing Ruby to rest at ease. "And a Silver eye?" He added, it still sounded as if it was an indirect question to Ruby. No doubt it was one of his many deceitful ways of manipulating people, Ruby was determined to not fall for it.

"Yes, I have both." She said, steadfast.

"I see." The man set down the plate full of cookies in front of Ruby before he himself made himself comfortable on a chair at the other end of the table, he was content sipping his coffee. Every single cell in Ruby's body begged her to stay away from the cookies, they could have been poisoned, even worse, they could have some sort of drug to put her to sleep, if that would happen she would undoubtedly be kidnapped and interrogated by him, Salem had already told her the things this man is capable of, it wasn't too far a stretch that he would do something like that.

Ruby kept her eyes fixed on the man, the man who let out a quiet and almost inaudible snicker. "Don't you like cookies? I thought these were your favorite." He asks, raising Ruby suspicious almost immediately. "How do you know that?" She asks with a more menacing voice than how she normally sounds like, the tension was already running high, Ruby wasn't happy being alone in a room with these two, especially him. She had one hand on the table, ready to act if anything was to suddenly happen, the other hand was busy under the table, holding her lovely weapon and making her feel safer.

"Well, I just so happen to have a new student coming to school, that student is your step-sister, miss Yang Xiao Long, and to be completely honest, I must admit that she never stops talking about you."

The answer was a bit logical, he must've met Yang at least once if she was going to his school, especially since her uncle is one of the head teachers in Signal Academy. But it still wasn't looking too good, Ruby could already previse what would happen if the meeting went on like this. She had to act more innocent, and fast. The man must think she would be easily manipulated into his cause, if not, he would never accept her into his academy.

"Oh, well. She's not really my step-sister, I'm just staying with her for a while an-"

"There is no need to worry, miss Xiao Long had already explained the situation regarding your parents." The man interrupted.

"Wait, she did?" Ruby asked, already becoming slightly worried of what Yang had to say.

"Of course, she told us that they are in Vacuo on business for the next four years, unless that isn't true?" He sipped his coffee and kept his eyes fixed on Ruby, he was trying to make her spill the beans! She was sure of it!

"W-well yes! Of course, it is, why wouldn't it be? I mean, they are just out on some business and they said it's okayForMeToJoinTheAcademyAndFollowMyDreamsAnd-"

"Miss Ruby, you had already lost me halfway through that sentence." The man said with a friendly smirk before sipping his coffee, Ruby couldn't help but blush a little before starting to roll her fingers in her hair, trying to hide her embarrassment, she always hated it when she lost control and started rambling uncontrollably such as now.

"Miss Ruby, if you don't mind, I have a few questions for you."

"Of course, go ahead!" Ruby immediately replied, she was already growing sick of acting cheerful around the man, it wasn't hard since that was what she actually is, but it still felt wrong for her to be so casual with someone as horrible as him.

"Well, I've heard that you had taken a part in all of the tests to join Beacon Academy early, is that correct?"

"Yes, it is."

"And as far as I'm aware, you've not only succeeded every test, but also beat every single other student that you faced in a duel, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir."

The man switched his eyes towards Glynda then back to Ruby. "And you know who she is?" He asked, motioning with his head towards Glynda.

"Yes, she is professor Glynda Goodwitch, a head teacher at Beacon and the teacher responsible for surveying all the trials of joining Beacon at a young age." Ruby replied quickly, hoping that her quick wit would at least impress the man a slight bit.

"So, you do realize that miss Glynda was the one that rejected you into the school, right?"

Ruby glanced at Glynda for a second before turning her head back to the man. "Yes, I do."

"Even though you got the full mark on every single test?"

"Yes."

The next question took Ruby by storm, a question she never even expected for him to put to mind. "And do you resent miss Glynda in any possible way for her decision?"

Ruby couldn't help but glance at Glynda once more before answering. "Nope, she was responsible for only letting the best of the best into the school, if she thinks I'm not ready then I won't argue with it, she was only doing her job." As Ruby said those words, a small smirk formed on the man's face, the more she went on the wider the smirk got until it became a full-fledged smile. He looked to his side, straight at Glynda, giving her an amused and gaiety look, almost like the look a friend gives to another friend if he wins a bet against them. Glynda only sighed as she looked away. Ruby started to wince because of the sudden silence that rang in the room, but it was soon that the man broke it.

"Miss Ruby, why do you want to become a Huntress."

"Well, to help humanity of course."

"Of course, but there always is a reason more than that, what urges you to fight for humanity? Especially at such a tender age. There must be one more reason at the very least?"

Ruby took a deep breath, she wasn't prepared for this, not one bit, she thought it would just be her telling him that she wants to fight Grimm and that's all, she never expected such questions. "Well, I guess you could say that I'm also proving myself."

"To whom?" He asked with a smile. Ruby immediately regretted what she said, how could she let something like that slip out of her mouth!?

"I- I uh, well. To myself?"

"Was that a question or an answer?" The man said regarding Ruby's weird tone.

"I- uh, no. It is the answer, I've always struggled to prove to myself that I can do specific things, what better way to fix that than proving it to other people too? I mean, It'sJustClearThatThisIsHowIFixThisAndIt'sNotLikeWantingSomethingForMyselfIsSelfishInAnywa-"

"Miss Ruby, I understand." He interrupted before Ruby could ramble on even further. He kept his eyes fixed on Ruby. "Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"You're professor Ozpin, the Headmaster at Beacon."

Ozpin smiled and leaned forwards. "Hello."

"Nice to meet you." Ruby said cheerfully, though actually disgusted on the inside.

"You want to come to my school?"

"Yes! More than anything!"

Ozpin leaned back, looking at Glynda with a face full of reassurance then looking back at Ruby. "Well, Glynda here might not think you're ready, but I'm more than sure that you are, you are welcomed into Beacon young miss."

...

Shortly after making his decision, Ozpin found himself alone in the room with Glynda, Ruby, who was clearly happy as she burst out of the room using her semblance screaming and yelling victorious. Had left them alone. He could already foresee the lecture he was about to get from Glynda, any second now.

"You do realize what we are dealing with here? Right professor?"

Yup, here it is.

"Yes, miss Glynda. I'm completely aware of it." Ozpin replied before taking a sip from his cup of coffee

"And you intend to put the safety of all the other students on the line just for this one girl?"

"They aren't in any danger, Glynda. at that, you can rest assured."

"And her?"

Ozpin switched his eyes to Glynda, it was all readable on his face, visible as the sun, he had no idea. "That would most likely depend on the path she chooses to take."

"And if it's like the one before her?"

"Then we deal with it before it is too late." He replied, almost looking guilty. He was quick to add to his own sayings. "But that will hopefully not happen, we must give her a chance, who knows what may happen?"

"That is exactly what worries me, professor, we know nothing about her. No last name, no birthday, are you sure her parents are even in Vacuo?"

"I trust miss Yang Xiao Long, if she says her parents are in Vacuo then it is the truth."

"That may be true, but what kind of parents don't even bother giving their daughter a last name or any official documents?"

"Glynda, we will deal with what the world throws at us when it comes, for now? We observe, learn, and even teach. She might be different than the one before her."

"I'm not going to question your decision, professor, but I still had to express my concerns."

"And I appreciate that, but let us hope that these concerns turn out to be pointless in the end."

* * *

 **I sincerely hope you liked the chapter, see you next one!**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	22. Chapter 21: Friends And Rivals

**Hola chicos y chicas, c'est moi, your death!**

 **Here, that's an intro for you.**

 **Nah, for real though, it feels great to be back at writing this fic, actually, it feels great to write in general since now I'll reveal the reasoning to why this took so damn long.**

 **It's actually just a writer's block. Buuuuuuuuut. THE WORST WRITER'S BLOCK I'VE EVER FREAKING HAD!**

 **That said, I'm ready to make it up to all you people who've waited so long for this, I have 3 things in mind.**

 **First of all, next chapter will be a 10K words special, consider that the first part of the apology, secondly, you might know that there should be a bonus chapter soon, though here's this, instead of 1 chapter I'll make it 2 bonuses, think about that, that doubles your chances of being picked, awesome huh?**

 **Anyway, there are a 2 ways to compete in this, first off, if you don't want to write, you can send me a PM containing any idea you want me to write, the only catch is that it has to be related to the Little Grimm Riding Hood universe, I'll take quite literally every suggestion seriously as long as it can be actually written, I can promise that. The other way to join is by simply writing anything you want as long as it is related to the universe of the fic and sending it to me, if it's good then I'll post it as one of the bonuses. By the way, it has to have the minimum of 1.5K words.**

 **So, next chapter will be a 10K special, then there will be a bonus chapter, then another normal chapter, then another bonus, sound good?**

 **That said, I know this chapter is kind of a filler but that's only because I wanted to reserve for the 10K special, and I promise it's not going to take as long to post as this. By the way, this chapter is 3K words long.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 21: Friends And Rivals**_

* * *

Could this get any worse? Firstly, a random guy wearing a mask felt the need to puke on Ruby's shoes. secondly, Yang decided that it would be fun to leave her on her own after quite literally spending nothing more than five minutes on the school's ground. Lastly, this random white-haired princess crashes into her, resulting in dust falling all over the ground, not only that, but the white-haired girl chose to put the blame on Ruby. The same white-haired girl that was currently blabbering nonsense at Ruby.

"Are you even listening to me?!" The Snob queried.

What more did she want Ruby to say? She already apologized for something that wasn't even her fault in the first place, this was exactly the kind of behavior she'd expect from a lowly huntress. Act like the hero or the victim and always put the blame on someone else. Classic and predictable huntress. Ruby already anticipated meeting one or two of those in Beacon, she just would have preferred it if it wasn't so soon though.

"No, not really. You're just repeating yourself at this point. I already said sorry and nothing serious happened. Why are we still talking about this anyway?" Was Ruby's simple reply. Maybe the girl in front of her was too stuck up to admit a wrong? Maybe she was a bully? Or maybe she was just that shallow.

"Why you! Do you have any idea who you're talking to?!"

Yup, definitely stuck up.

The young woman was starting to get on Ruby's nerve. Whoever she was or whoever she thought she was didn't matter to Ruby, all huntsmen and huntresses were the same, corrupt people working for fame and money whilst mistreating those under them.

"Princess snow bum?" Ruby ridiculed, half sarcastically and half seriously.

"Why you insolent juvenile dolt! How dare yo-"

"You might want to ease a little with the nicknames, snow bum. You don't want to anger people you don't know, do you now?"

"Call me that name again and I'll show you what a Schnee could do!"

"You mean other than steal and corrupt? Nothing interesting, really."

"That's enough!" The Schnee drew her rapier, pointing it at Ruby. "I challenge you to a duel, nobody insults my family's name and gets away with it!"

Ruby happily drew her weapon, a smirk formed on her face when she noticed the Schnee girl hesitate after seeing her weapon's gigantic size. A scythe like Grimm Rose was enough to cause anyone to rethink about fighting Ruby.

Weiss took a combat stance, no matter how big or threatening that arrogant girl's weapon is. She'll stand her ground to defend her family name. She saw many people circle around her and the girl, no doubt everyone was excited to see a fight happen so soon into the semester. Weiss was ready to teach that girl a lesson.

"What's happening?" Weiss heard. The two words came from the last person she'd expect to say them. Not a teacher suddenly intervening to stop a fight, not a student wondering what's happening, not even anything close. Hell, she'd have expected a mythical creature to say this before expecting it from the person who actually said it. The two words came from the same girl she was about to fight.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked again, she looked around herself, people were surrounding her and the same girl she apologized to a moment ago, wait, why did she and the girl have their weapons drawn?

"Are you trying to stress me further? Because believe me, nothing will make me concentrate less after you dared insult my family."

Wait... Family? Insults? Weapons drawn? It happened again!

Ruby checked her pocket, she soon pulled out the small ruby she had found on her small trip with Yang inside the lake. The ruby barely had any color left on it, it was completely black except for a single spec in the center showing a dim red color.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" Ruby screamed all of a sudden to everyone's shock, especially the Schnee heiress. Which was shocked even further when she saw Ruby abruptly erupt into a pile of black petals, leaving a track that seemed to have no end.

The Schnee looked around herself, all the people who gathered around her and the redhead were just as shocked as her.

Ruby finally decided it was time to stop running, she quickly checked her back pocket, pulling out a sachet full of pills. She started to breathe more heavily and soon started feeling a sharp pain in her chest. She didn't have much time. She took one pill out and gulped it with no hesitation then looked at the ruby again and a huge sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she saw the ruby gradually regain its red color.

Soon enough, her heavy breathing starting fading until she could finally breathe normally again, the sharp pain started receding and her whole body felt renewed.

That was too much of a close call, Ruby knew she was lucky to get a hold of herself before she hurt anyone. That Schnee girl specifically was lucky, Ruby didn't even want to imagine what would have happened if the fight had started.

She knew this place packed with huntsmen would get on her nerves but not this quickly, she had to finish her task soon, there was no telling what would occur if she was to lost control in such a place.

And what better way to finish her task quickly than getting a good idea of how the school looks like?

But first, something had to be fixed, as much as Ruby hated to even stand next to huntsmen and huntresses, she had to make amends with whoever it was that she nearly fought with, having enemies from day one would do her no good, having a good reputation was something she desperately needed. For who would expect the school's angel to do any misdeed?

...

Luckily to Ruby, her semblance helped her to reach the white-haired girl before the school's bell rang. The girl was crouching on the ground, picking up multiple Dust crystals while most people were already heading to hear Ozpin's speech.

Ruby took a deep breath before walking up to the girl from behind and giving her a light poke to the shoulder. Ruby had already contemplated everything she was to say to the girl, first she'd apologize, then explain her fake semblance. All while trying to keep it as peaceful as possible.

But that proved to be a hard feat to achieve as almost immediately Ruby found herself engulfed in ice, the girl stood up, revealing that she had her weapon in her hand. Ruby couldn't move an inch, her whole body was surrounded by ice except for her head.

"What do you want you fool!" Weiss said before pointing her weapon straight at Ruby's forehead, mere inches away from actually touching it.

"Apologize, I wanted to apologize." Ruby tried her best to maintain her composure, it wasn't easy especially with the situation she had been forced in.

The ice felt thick and strong but Ruby was sure she could break out, there was a specific spot that was definitely weaker than the rest and it was right in front of her feet.

"Apologize? First, you crash into me, then you insult me and my family, and then you run away from a duel I challenged you to. You're insane!"

"I'm sorry, I had no control over it."

"How on Rem- Stop messing with me! You'll only make it worse for yourself!"

"But I'm not, my semblance was the one talking to you."

Has this idiot been struck to the head or something? Weiss couldn't comprehend most things leaving that girl's mouth. "Your semblance? Talking? Semblances can't-"

"Mine can," Ruby interjected. She decided to continue before the other girl has a chance to speak. "You see, when I feel in danger my semblance takes over and as a result, I become way stronger but it also affects my behavior. You can believe me when I say that it was a completely different person than the one you are talking to now."

"Well, that explains a lot." Weiss admitted, maybe the redhead was lying, maybe she wasn't, but one thing is for sure, she needs to do way more than just apologize to make up for her actions.

Ruby smiled, maybe she had gotten into the white-haired girl's head, maybe she was ready to put this behind. Her smile widened when she saw the girl lift her rapier and start melting the ice using fire dust. She was soon free of her iced prison.

"This still doesn't fix anything, put that in mind." Weiss explained. She watched as the redhead stretched her arms.

"But I said sorry." Ruby said calmly. She was starting to get a better read on the elegant girl. Being calm and composed was most likely the safest way to communicate with her likes.

"Sorry isn't nowhere near enough to compensate for the words you've said about me and my family. If you're serious about making this up to me I'd advise to just leave me be." The Schnee walked away before Ruby could reply. Leaving her to wonder if there are any grudges she held or not.

Ruby sighed and walked in the opposite direction. She knew most people were going to hear Ozpin deliver his speech but Ruby figured that there was no better time to look for the Maiden other than now since it would be very unlikely that she runs into anyone.

Yet to her extreme annoyance, someone else had the plan to impede her progress by calling out to her.

"Hey, miss!" She heard, immediately turning around to see a male man, most likely a student. But wearing a mask and some of his blonde hair was poking out of the mask. And that's when she remembered. It was the guy who puked on her shoes.

She noticed him hesitate as soon as she turned to face him, he no wonder remembered her himself. "Hey! I'm just wondering if you know where the student gathering will take place?" He said tentatively.

"Right over there." Ruby pointed towards the bottom of Beacon tower.

"Thank you, uhh. I'll be going now." The man turned around and started walking away but Ruby couldn't help but feel something odd. He seemed familiar.

The mask he wore wasn't fully covering his neck and upon concentrating Ruby figured out why he seemed so familiar, even with a mask on.

"Jaune?" She called out, the man immediately came to a halt and turned around to face Ruby. He heaved a sigh before removing his mask, revealing that he was indeed Ruby's old friend.

"Hi, Ruby." He answered with no signs of enthusiasm.

Normally, Ruby wouldn't let anything obnubilate her progress but this? Jaune was one of her best friends and she hadn't seen him in a year since he completely disappeared.

Ruby burst with her semblance and surprised Jaune with what probably was the tightest hug he's ever received. Unless he was crushed by an Ursa before or something, but seeing him okay was enough to at least put some doubt into that thought. "It's been so long!" She screamed full of gaiety.

"Ruby, air." Ruby forced herself to let go upon hearing those words. She watched Jaune stretch his back before sighing.

"Still didn't break my back, better luck next time." He said, it might have been confusing to anyone other than Ruby to hear those words but she still remembers when she bet him that she could crack his back so well that he'd never need a massage for a year. To her extreme surprise, that day was the day she discovered that Jaune wasn't as weak as he might've seemed to be for most people who set eyes on him. She couldn't even bend his back enough for a slight crack. Since then, it became a tradition of them hugging upon meeting and every time Ruby was trying to secretly crack his back, it didn't take her long to discover that she wasn't actually that secretive and that she wasn't as cunning as she thought she was. I mean seriously, who bumps someone's back into a tree when hugging?

Jaune soon removed his blank facial expression with a slight smile. "It's good to see you again, Ruby." He said.

...

"So, basically, it's a Scythe and also a sword and also a spear and also a glaive and also a greatsword?"

"Yes, but it's also a high caliber impact sniper rifle!"

"A what?"

"It's also a gun."

"Oum, Ruby. It was already confusing enough when it was a sword-scythe."

"The more the merrier, am I right?"

Jaune kept his silence as he and his old friend made their way along the courtyard of their new school and temporary home. It was still hard for him to believe that he, Jaune Arc, the boy who can't ever get a damn thing right in his life, had entered Beacon Academy.

Jaune and Beacon.

It just didn't fit.

But even if it didn't, he was here now, and he wasn't going back, he was happy being here. Though it would have been much more pleasant if he knew he had gotten here as a result of his hard work, not a bunch of fake papers that somehow, and against all odds, convinced the headmaster of his worthiness to enter Beacon.

If the world knew how easy it was to enter Beacon then most of the people would have been huntsmen. Or at least that's what Jaune thought, he had not even the slightest idea of why he actually was accepted into Beacon.

Ozpin had done the same as what he did with every other Arc he encountered in his past lives. All of them were almost identical at the start. They start off insecure, uncertain, not knowing what they really want, and lastly, the trait that is shared by all of them, their incredible prowess in combat. Very few could match an arc that reached his or her full potential.

Ruby also had a fair share of things to ponder. The first was how she should feel, she met Jaune, he was never close to her as Yang was but he was still her only other real friend, though the fact that she sees him nowhere other than amidst all these disgusting huntsmen and huntresses made it confusing, she knew Jaune wasn't a bad person but she also knew that all huntsmen are bad, what could this have meant?

"Ruby, I know your sister wanted you to be a huntress but why are you here so early?" Jaune queried suddenly. Thankfully, Ruby was prepared to answer that question, no matter when and who asked her.

The answer was quite simple really and it worked every single time.

"It's a long story."

"Oh, well, maybe later." Jaune answered.

Worked like a charm, as expected. It's a technique she learned from none other than the king of deceit himself, Tyrian. It was quite simple and easy to understand, give the simplest answer to the most complex of questions but give the most complex of answers to the most simple of questions, it took her a while to figure out that this was exactly what he was doing to her with every question that she would ask him. Surprisingly though, it was quite the useful tip.

Ruby's attention was caught as she heard the great Beacon Tower produce the sound of a bell, soon, she noticed how the last remaining students started hurrying towards the gathering hall, no doubt Ozpin was ready to deliver a speech.

"I think that's our cue to go, Ruby." Jaune said as he turned around, ready to walk to the gathering hall.

Ruby, though, had other things in mind. "You go on ahead, I've got something to do."

"What? You do know that it's mandatory to hear the speech, right?" He said after turning around to face Ruby once more, confusion written over his face.

Of course, it was mandatory, Ruby didn't know why that thought never crossed her mind, this was a huntsmen academy, after all, everything Ozpin does will be to control the students one way or another.

But that's not what Ruby was here for, she wasn't here to obey the rules, let alone Ozpin's rules, she was here to twist, bend, break, and shatter his hopes and dreams, that was her intent, and she wasn't going to let a petty rule get in the way of that.

"I've got permission." She bluffed. "Try to find Yang, I'll catch up with you both later." She added.

"Wait, Yang is here?" He asked, almost shocked.

"Yeah, of course, you'll find her somewhere in the meeting hall."

Jaune was confused but not completely bewildered, he knew Yang was to become a huntress sooner or later, he just forgot that they were the same age, he didn't think of meeting any old friends when he ran away to join Beacon.

He replied with a nod and then a small wave before starting to turn around. He was stopped by another comment from Ruby.

"And Jaune, when you find her, well, you know what to do." She said vaguely but with a mischevious smile. Her smile only widened when she heard a light chuckle escape Jaune's mouth, it confirmed that he knew what she meant.

"Will do, see you later." He waved and made his way to the meeting hall.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed, and I promise there's a lot of reasoning to be excited about next chapter, see you soon!**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	23. Bonus Chapter: Tacos!

**So, here's the bonus chapter, I decided to upload it before the 10K chapter but don't worry, the 10K chapter is going to be uploaded in 2 days, maybe less. That said, I chose this as the winner just because of how silly and funny it is, seriously, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life (That's just cuz my life is sad.)**

 **And what's the best part? I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHY I WAS LAUGHING!**

 **That said, thanks to all people who made submissions. This chapter was written by Soda-fiedPsycho**

* * *

Tyrian Callows was a definition of insanity. His actions speak louder than words, but his expressions are borderline weird. They mean chaos, destruction, satisfaction, and overall psychotic. Or they scream "THROW ME AT THEM MISTRESS AND I WILL PROMISE TO TEAR THEM TO SHREDS WHILE FEEDING ALL SEVEN OF YOUR PETS, GIVING RUBY A MASSAGE, TELLING THESE PATHETIC LOSERS THAT THEY ARE UNWORTHY TO BE IN YOUR PRESENCE, AND I WILL THROW OZPIN'S REINCARNATIONS OFF A CLIFF!" Most likely the second one. Unless in the presence of Ruby.

Those expressions turn from those into "When you turn old enough to date boys I will personally ensure that you can flirt properly by kidnapping teenagers." Though this is extreme, this is Tyrian. Which is exactly explaining why he's telling Cinder to tell Salem why he is going to steal all the tacos in a taco shop on Tuesday.

What was not typical was him grabbing Ruby and her JOINING the robbery. It was per- "WAIT WHAT?!" Salem SCREAMED at Cinder who was explaining what happened. Apparently, Tyrian found Ruby who found a bottle of vodka earlier, which then Tyrian did something stupid again, as he used his stinger to grab the bottle.

What was stupid was the fact he drank it. ALL OF THE VODKA FROM THE BOTTLE. Which then resulted in Cinder coming into a room where Ruby was hearing how Tyrian can make a story that is so very stupid. How it went was in these exact words.

"Once upon a time, there were humans, Faunus, and Grimm, which all hated each other, probably. Though, soon, humanity created a food with Faunus. This food, Ruby, was so special, they became divine meals on Tuesdays. The humans who made these meals with MUCH experience could do it in under a minute. I think. This food was known to be called a "Taco" and yelling "TACO TUESDAY" while ordering one on a Tuesday made it much tastier. Of course, while not a sweet, it, of course, was great. So now, we're going to go find Cinder and-"

"Tyrian, are you drunk and why are you telling that story? Why do you need me?" Cinder asked in a hesitant and very puzzled tone. What happened next was a blur to even Ruby. Tyrian TELEPORTED to Cinder and yelled, "RUBY AND I ARE GOING TO ROB A TACO PLACE. I NEED YOU TO ENSURE MISTRESS KNOWS OF THE SITUATION! NOW, OFF WE GO SIDEKICK RUBY!"

... This was going to be a long day. As Cinder looked at Salem's expression, she froze to her spot. Salem was angry. Actually, that's an understatement of two celestial understatements. She looked like she was about to tear apart 3 dozen abominations, eat Grimm, skewer 9 dogs, drop artillery on Vale, make Atlas turn into a sandwich, and burn down another dimension all in a single second. For three minutes. And then, the heavens were pierced by her yelling so loud, shattering nine sound barriers of two dimensions.

After the scream, Salem appeared to have calmed down but finally spoke. "Cinder, when Tyrian comes back, tell me," Salem said, in a voice that sounded so innocent, it seemed like a literal God of War was talking.

-Meanwhile, at the Taco shop.-

"RUBY, GET OVER HERE! Tacooooosss," Tyrian screamed at the top of his lungs, doing dances before feeling shivers of an unknown force. "I feel weird. Eh. Tacos come to Ruby and I first!"

When Ruby and Tyrian returned, all was calm, except for their tacos in two bags, Ruby's being drastically smaller in terms of tacos. Though, while Ruby ate five tacos per second, Cinder was staring at Tyrian before turning around and calling out, "Lady Salem, Tyrian has arrived with Ruby!"

As soon as she called out, she grabbed Ruby and BOLT away. Along with a bag of tacos. Which Ruby was still wolfing down.

A day later, Tyrian was found nailed to a tree and being so utterly harrassed, pained, and scared.

-In Vale (Two weeks later).-

"Due to recent reports of taco shop robberies, Vale is currently increasing security on these stores. What is particularly odd is that these robberies are always on a Tuesday. I believe we have a recorded break-in from yesterday's raid. It currently shows a red-cloaked child being carried piggy-back on an incredibly psychotic-looking man," Lisa Lavender reports. The video is showing Tyrian rush into a taco bell that had a security guard. Ruby was currently giggling, feeling the excitement better than no gravity parkour people.

"Currently, as you see, the man is drun-" Lisa Lavender drops her jaw in shock from the footage. Tyrian is curling 8 tacos on his tail and setting up a dinner for the night. Ruby is sitting eagerly waiting for the food. The shock is because of seven people arriving in the room and sitting in other seats. The seven people, much to everyone's confusion, were actually beowolves.

"TACO TUESDAY, DOGGIES GET A SPECIAL TREAT!" is the voice of the madman, which Lisa Lavender then sees the beowolves actually SIT in the chairs, while the CHILD is HANDING OUT TACOS while then speaking to the beowolves, "Taco Tuesday! Eat up!"

The man from before sits next to the child and they begin eating tacos together with the beowolves. Lisa Lavender is currently frozen in place.

-In Beacon Tower-

Ozpin is currently watching the news and upon noticing the news. His face turns into a calculative gaze. "... Did she orchestrate this? Who is the child? What? Oh well. I'll just use her scroll number."

Ozpin then whips out another scroll and types in a blur of numbers. He is typing so fast, his arm is seemingly missing. Not even Oobleck can go that fast.

-Salem Manor-

A Beowulf is currently walking towards Lady Salem while glowing lightly with pulses. Salem looks at it confused before the beowolf throws up a scroll that is currently ringing, before dropping to the floor and dying.

She answers the scroll, not understanding what happened, only to groan in annoyance from a voice. "Hello Salem, Oz here, and that was, of course, my magic trick. Now, from what has happened recently, also known to many as the Taco Tuesday Week Raids, I have seen a child and an erratic Scorpion faunus talking and eating tacos while both of them are shouting 'Taco Tuesday' which is surprising, but then there are also seven beowolves that were ALSO eating tacos. This makes me curious."

Salem hesitantly replies, "I left the stove on," before throwing the scroll out of the window with gritted teeth. She then musters all of her anger and screams, "TYRIAN, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN VALE? WHY WAS MY DAUGHTER SEEN ON THE NEWS WITH YOU AND BEOWOLVES?"

The only other thing Tyrian did was yell out, "TACO T-" before falling victim to Salem mind destroyer 9000 (aka mind torture.)

Meanwhile, Cinder is currently reading to Ruby about the great war. What Cinder hears as she utters the first word is crunching. She looks at Ruby to see her eating tacos. It was then that Cinder heard Salem scream at the top of her lungs and Tyrian's cries of terrifying insanity from his goddess' torture methods.

-3 minutes later-

After soundproofing the room, Cinder reads Ruby another bedtime story. Then Salem appears in the room and barks at Cinder to leave the room.

After that was done, Ruby is told the story about a wizard and how he is a completely arrogant fool. Ruby, being innocent, then asks, "What does arrogant mean?" Salem looked at Ruby before giving her dictionary. What happens next? Boredom wins out of reading definitions, and Ruby falls asleep.

-Tomorrow.-

Ruby is currently watching Tyrian try to beat a geist at a game she doesn't know how to say. Tyrian says something about putting up a tower and take it apart piece by piece, careful enough to not lose by the foundation falling. Of course, the geist undeniably wins.

Then, Tyrian did the impossible. How? He threw monopoly at the Geist. What happens? Money made of paper and tiny houses suddenly combine. How? He threw seven larger monopoly board games at the Geist. Suddenly, Monopoly is life-sized. Well, that's too much adventure.

Dr. Watts taught me things, but all I remember were his most basic lessons, and all I learned about nutrition is that veggies taste like trash! How can I even HOPE to play a Monopoly board game that is about 10 feet wide and long?

Tyrian throws a taco at the board game. The board game eats it. Wait what?

The board collapsed into itself and ATE the taco like a trap. Well then.

Ruby then decided to do something else. Taking Ruby back home. And that, my friends, is how a bonus chapter rambles from point to point, fully confusing even the author who wrote the thing. Geez, what a nightmare.

OUTRO

"For all those tacos and cookies you destroyed, we have rejoined as one to take out the infamous Ruby Rose that was adopted by Salem to stop the hyper lunatic! CHARGE TACO AND COOKIE ARMY!" shouted tiny foods that had tiny swords. Ruby just looks confused. Before eating every enemy in the battlefield at the speed of Mach 5+. Rip cookie and tac army.

* * *

 **I know you're confused, me too, don't worry about it. I'm craving Tacos now.**


	24. Chapter 22: Mission start!

**W-Wait, what do you mean this wasn't a week? THIS WAS DEFINITELY A WEEK. I CAN DO MATH! 40-ish days= 1 week, don't argue with me, I have a- a- a master's degree in mathematics, yeah!**

 **Jokes aside though, I'm terribly sorry it took this freaking long, I hope you guys believe me if I tell you that I feel horrible for making you wait this long especially after promising something but I simply did not have enough time to write at all!** **I'm going to do my fullest to update this story as frequently as I possibly can, and this time I won't break my promise when I say that the next chapter will be 10K words and it will heavily impact this story. It's going to be a chapter this story needed for a long while.**

 **I won't give any specific dates but this will not take nearly as much time as this did, I promise. Thank you all for being very tolerant and uncomplaining for this long time.**

 **Little Grimm Riding Hood is officially back!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 22: Mission start!**_

* * *

Students, warriors, heroes, protectors, and a bully named Cardin. Those people stood amidst each other inside the great meeting hall of Beacon Academy, which was nothing else other than the bottom of the great Beacon Tower itself, a symbol of humanity's strength, intelligence, and finally, the thing it represents the most, hope, the greatest dream that can spark the mightiest of changes just by simply existing in a single human's heart.

Beacon Tower held many titles. Some were lesser, some were famous, but none stood out more than the name given to it by the man who ordered its construction. The Great Tower Of Hope, that's what the tower was meant for, to be the greatest beacon of hope the world has or will ever see.

And so far it has succeeded in fulfilling its duty.

Some students didn't realize how much the place they stood in mattered in history, some were shocked to even see it, and some were speechless to have the honor to stand in a place that the greatest huntsmen to ever live once stood in. But one thing was shared between all the students, they were all waiting for their headmaster, their headmaster who seemed to be non-existent even though he was supposed to be delivering them a speech at this very moment. The one thing they didn't know, is that he was behind the curtain which covered a part of the stage that he was most likely going to deliver the speech from, another thing they didn't know was how he was talking to his most trusted professor about something of great importance.

"She's still going in the same direction, Ozpin." The head professor of Beacon told the headmaster.

"Well, I'm afraid no more time can be spared, Glynda, I'll deliver the speech, you send a guard to check for any concerns." The headmaster said as he started making his way to the curtains. He halted, then spoke. "And Glynda, under no circumstances should this guard start any violence, I hope you understand my concerns."

"I do, Ozpin, I'll handle this."

A slight and trusting smirk appeared on Ozpin's lips before he pushed the curtains and went to do one of the things he hates the most.

...

Ruby still had trouble navigating the school's ground, she had tried her best to survey all of Beacon before landing but it was still not quite enough to know exactly where she was, the school was enormous.

She had one objective only, find and kill the maiden, the sooner the better. But sadly, things were never as easy as they seemed, she already learned that and accepted it as a fact, for how could her mother ever lie to her? Everything that came out of her mouth, all advice, all words, all stories. They were all a part of her experiences, and even though Ruby never really understood all things taught to her, she could at least understand that Salem had experience, a lot of it.

And since Salem told her that all the world will try to stop Ruby from achieving her goals, Ruby was ready to stand in the world's way, just for a chance to prove it wrong.

And just as that thought scrapped her mind, the world proved that it actually was against her.

Or maybe that's just how it seemed to be.

"Miss, are you lost?" Ruby heard a voice from behind her, she immediately turned around to face it. It was a guard, just one guard wearing a robot-like white suit with a white helmet that has blue goggles covering his eyes. With a uniform like that Ruby assumed he was hired somewhere from Atlas.

She had to think quickly, and so she did. "Oh! Finally, someone's here!" She cheered, then continued with. "This school is so big I thought I'd get lost here all day!"

The guard's lips formed into a slight and honest smirk as he whipped up his scroll. "Well, miss, no need to worry about that. I'll just check exactly where you need to be and escort you there myself." He said as he started writing on his scroll.

"I'm assuming you're a first-year student?" He asked

"That would be perfect! And yes, I am a first year." Ruby chirped.

"Mmhm." The guard said with simplicity and almost looked nonchalant as he did. And there was one other thing that Ruby easily noticed, he was still writing on his scroll, normally that isn't a problem but she started pondering why it would take him so long, she kept waiting.

Then a realization hit her.

No guard wouldn't know his way around the place he guards, moreover, he was writing for more time than it should take anyone to simply write the name of a place.

Ruby decided to slowly approach the man, and upon nearing him enough, she noticed him tilt his scroll slowly, as to stop her from looking.

"So, how did you find me here? This place is pretty big." She asked the man, his head stayed fixed at his scroll as he replied.

"I guess it was just luck."

"Luck huh? Well, it still feels very unlikely for you to run into me just by chance."

"Consider yourself that lucky then." He said as he continued writing on the scroll. Ruby could see that he was a bit frustrated behind his mask.

"Umm, is everything alright? Can't you find the place?" Ruby asked.

"Any second now." He answered.

Sadly for the guard, however, his answer wasn't what Ruby needed to hear, and she was started to get bored of acting.

"Can you look at me when I talk to you?!" Ruby raised her voice, it was enough to startle the guard and make him look at her.

Ruby then proceeded to smile. "Thank you." She said. The guard didn't even have enough time to wrap his head around his own confusion before suddenly feeling as if he was kicked in almost every part of his body. The overwhelming number of kicks left the guard no choice but to collapse on his knee in pain. He was soon knocked on his back by the last kick which was directed straight at his jaw.

He then found his arm pinned to the ground under the girl's boot. His other arm was held down by her knee. "Get off me!" He demanded. only for Ruby to slowly tilt her head towards him. He immediately felt uneasy, the feeling only grew when a smile formed on her face.

What followed was probably the most demeaning thing that had ever happened to him. The girl, with all simplicity, stuck her tongue out.

Not only was he pinned to the ground by a tiny girl that he almost laughed about how weak she looked at first, but he was also embarrassed further by her insulting him in such a childish way!

She obviously was a one of a kind criminal.

Ruby stretched her hand to grab the man's scroll which had by chance fallen right beside them. She tried opening it but she was met by a password.

"What's the password?" She asked, maintaining her composure.

"Like hell that I'd tell you! Get off me!" He demanded before starting to churn vigorously.

Ruby didn't risk trying to test the guard's strength and started pressing harder with both her knee and boots, the pressure caused the guard to quiver.

"A bit more force and you're going to have to say goodbye to your leg," Ruby threatened, still maintaining her calm tone. "But I don't think neither of us wants that, so how about you just tell me so we can get this over with?"

The guard groaned. "You think I'll just give you the password like that? The people I work for can make you-"

"I don't give a crap about the people you work for." She said as she pressed even stronger than before. "Oh, I think I heard the first crack. So, what will it be? I'm sure your leg isn't going to handle this for much longer."

The guard groaned from the pain even louder than before, though he finally made his decision. "Fine! Just calm down!"

Ruby lessened the force she used to press on his leg. "Good, now what's the password?"

The guard sighed in relief as he felt himself able to move the tiniest bit with his leg, it was still functional to his relief. "I-I don't know it, I forgot it, I just use my fingerprint to unlock it."

Ruby sighed, the man was way too stupid to even come up with a good trick. "So you're going to unlock it using your fingerprint?"

"Y-yes."

"While wearing gloves?"

The guard didn't answer, at least he wasn't stupid enough to make it even worse on himself.

Ruby was done with this. "Seriously, you have until I reach five to tell me the password."

"I don't know it!"

"one."

"I don't! I'm not lying."

"four." She skipped, hoping to make him panic and get the password out of him.

"It's Beacon! The password is Beacon with a three replacing the E and a pound symbol at the end!"

And that was yet another time one of Tyrian's tricks worked in her favor, he was a genius, crazy, but a genius nonetheless. She never bothered to ask how that logic works. But she did always wonder why he tried using that method, especially with her, every time it failed, well, with her at least. It worked on most all other people.

But for some reason, not her. She never knew why her but she had her speculations.

One of them was something she possessed, even Salem made a few comments about it. What she possessed wasn't physical, it was just her ability to stay calm when everything around her is falling apart, an ability she mostly got from Cinder, her mentor, she taught her that if everything is falling apart around her, she is to use the rubble to build herself up and stay above the destruction.

"Aren't you going to let me go now?!" She heard suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. She smiled.

"Yeah, of course." She said after making sure the password is correct, and to her relief, the scroll did open.

"Really!?" The man said, full of happiness and relief.

"No, not really."

Sadly, that was false relief. Her words followed by a direct strike to his head, the force was enough to make him fall unconscious.

...

It was annoying, it was really, really annoying. Not only did she confirm that Ozpin is suspicious of her, now she was going to have to postpone her search for the maiden to stay safe. It was far too dangerous to raise suspicions on herself this early into the year.

How she confirmed his suspicions was because of what she found on the scroll, a text conversation between him and the guard that came to find her, the messages showed how Ozpin had ordered the man to come to find her in the case of his 'worries' being accurate.

She almost made it back to the Tower of Beacon. The guard she was with walking next to her, ready to say all the answers she needed him to say. She noticed Ozpin standing in front of the tower's gate, sipping on his mug of whatever it is he drank with such unhealthy quantities.

She smiled as she reached him, a fake smile, obviously. "Thank you so much for bringing me back here, I thought I was lost for good!" She thanked the guard who smiled back.

Ozpin spoke. "So what has happened? Was miss Ruby lost?" He said with a concerned tone, Ruby thought it was fake, how could it not be? He was definitely playing the same game as her.

The guard quickly replied. "Yes, Headmaster. She was lost and I luckily found her while patrolling, there was nothing out of the ordinary around the school too."

Ozpin smiled. "Well, I hope navigating the school becomes easier for you as time goes on, miss Ruby."

"Speaking of navigating, I'm really terrible at it." Ruby said, a bit sarcastically. She soon spoke to the guard. "Would you mind showing me where the dorms are?" She asked.

The guard shook his head in response, then added. "Of course not, for today all students will be sleeping on the second floor of the Tower, let me show you the way. Excuse me, Headmaster." He said as he made his way inside the tower, Ruby waved at Ozpin as she followed the guard inside until they were both out of anyone's sight.

"Stop." She said, the guard immediately stopped. She moved closer to him and stared him in the eyes. "You weren't hurt by me and you never did anything other than escort me here, I'm just a normal huntress-in-training, got it?" She said. The guard nodded.

Ruby proceeded to move her hand until it was on top of the guard's helmet, she grabbed something and quickly entered the sleeping quarters. The guard suddenly looked bewildered before returning outside and continuing his duty normally.

Ruby looked at what she had in her hand, It looked like a black dot but in truth, it was one of her favorite Grimm. A Grimm so small you couldn't even notice it unless you knew it was there, though it did have a long and very thin stinger, long and sharp enough to easily pierce through the guard's helmet, connecting itself to his brain like a parasite.

The icing on the cake, however, is that the Grimm was under Ruby's command, which meant that it would hand over the command of its host to her, that's how she was able to control the guard.

She smiled as she noticed Yang and Jaune talking in the distance, both had their bedrolls next to each other and Yang had already prepared one for Ruby next to them. She made her way through the piles of students, some asleep and some yet to sleep, she soon reached her friends which had just noticed her presence.

...

It was late in the night now, all student were asleep, Jaune included. But there were only two that were still awake, those two being Yang and Ruby which had resorted to whispering in the fear of waking the other students up.

"I still can't believe you made Jaune dumb water on my head, you're crazy, I could have hurt him."

Ruby giggled, she remembered how she told Jaune to 'Say hi' to Yang which was her secret code for him to prank her. "Nah, you wouldn't have, you haven't seen him in such a long time which meant you'd be more excited than annoyed so I told him to take the chance."

"You know me so well." Yang replied playfully.

For the next few seconds, silence rang. Until Yang broke it. "You know, ever since I met you, I never would have imagined for us to end up this way."

"Huh?"

"I mean, look at us. When we met we were both two stupid kids, now we are becoming huntresses together, it's like something out of a fairy tale."

Ruby smiled. "You think so?"

"Yeah, it couldn't have been much better than this, and imagine how much people we are going to save after graduating, we are going to be heroes, Rubes. Together."

"Y-yeah. Of course..."

"It's still early for me to say this, but remember Rubes, I always got your back, always. Be it good or bad, we are making it through together."

"I- I hope so."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though nothing major happened, believe me, the same cannot be said about the next few chapters. Thanks again for being so patient. I've one more thing left to say.**

 **I'm guessing you're all familiar with the RWBY game called "Amity Arena."**

 **Well, me and my trusty friend Merlin Pranks101 have a guild in that game named 'First Order' Located in Vale. Consider this an invitation to join us! You can make sure it is the right guild by making sure that I'm one of the members. My name is as it should be, Zilverhope. Come join us!**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	25. Chapter 23: Credence

**Took my sweet time, didn't I? Well, I did say this will be updated sooner or later and I did say this won't stop without an ending so don't worry about that.**

 **I've decided to split the 10K special into two parts because I noticed how different they are from each other, if they were in one chapter it would've probably left a bad taste for the reader. Each chapter will be 5K words.**

 **Bold move coming in this chapter, this should give an idea of where this story is going.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _ **I**_ **haven't watched Volume.6 so please no spoilers!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 23: Credence**_

* * *

"Just go talk to her, what's the worst that can happen?" Yang encouraged her friend which had started crushing like the teenage boy he is upon seeing a beautiful redhead in the locker room with him and his two friends.

"I don't know, Yang. What if I'm shot down?" He answered.

Ruby quickly interjected. "You're an Arc! Nobody'd reject you! Just be smoooooth."

"Smooth?" He asked. Ruby nodded.

It was at that moment that Yang noticed something. "Look, her locker is next to yours! Come on, go and say hi." She then proceeded to push him into the direction of the girl, forcing him to go whether he liked it or not, such a good friend she was.

Well, good in the terms of intention only because in no way did she mean to push him so hard that he wouldn't be able to stop and end up literally falling on the redhead and bringing her to the ground with him.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" Jaune asked with a face as red as a kajillion suns mashed together to form one big ball of redness. He quickly got off of her and helped her to her feet. Her face was as red as his.

"I'm sorry..." She said, much to his confusion.

"No, it was my fault!" He said.

Yang tried to suppress her laughter as she watched the two of them proceed to apologize to each other and insisting it was their fault for the next few moments.

Jaune tilted his eyes towards his friend, Ruby. And his former friend and soon-to-be enemy, Yang. He spotted Ruby waving at him. "Be smooth!"

Jaune nodded softly as his eyes turned to face the redhead in front of him. "W-would you like to get a smoothie?"

Yang, nearly collapsing on the floor, spoke to Ruby. "Good job, Rubes. Now he's a goner." She said. Ruby felt a bit of guilt but it wasn't completely her fault since he clearly didn't completely catch what she said.

She was about to reply but that was when she spotted Jaune coming back, weirdly enough, out of every expression she would have expected him to have drawn all over his face she spotted the one that was least likely. A smile.

He spoke before they could ask anything. "She said yes!" He looked victorious and he had every right to be, asking a girl as pretty as she was could not be an easy feat, or so he thought, not knowing that he was talking to the nicest person in the whole school.

Yang was quick to wrap her arm around his shoulder. "See, my strategies always work! Now you've got yourself a date!"

Jaune simply murmured one thing in response. "You're dead to me." He said. Yang quickly tightened her grip around him and laughed.

"Ah come on, it isn't my fault that you're such a wuss!"

This was nice, Ruby thought. It reminded her of previous days, days when she didn't need to worry about things. It was a kind feeling of nostalgia, seeing her two friends together with her again.

"You guys are so cute together, are you sure she isn't the one you should be asking out, Jaune?" Ruby said as she watched Jaune's face light up with embarrassment, Yang only smiled as she forced Jaune's body closer to hers. His face grew redder.

"Come on Jaune, I wouldn't mind." Yang teased. Poor Jaune was getting demolished by the two girls.

"Ok! Ok! Timeout! Too close!" Jaune demanded, causing Yang to grin further.

"Whatcha mean?" Yang queried.

Jaune hesitated but he couldn't really take this any longer so he forced himself to speak. "Damn it, Yang, you're chest is too close!"

Her face immediately lit up with embarrassment as she let go of him and took a few steps back, damn it, he beat her at her own game! Her feeling of defeat grew worse as Ruby burst out laughing so loudly that every student in the locker room could hear her, including the White-Haired Schnee who was looking at her irritatingly.

But everything eventually had to come to an end and this was no different as the voice of the headmaster rung around the whole school thanks to the speaker system. Calling everyone to gather at the plaza of the school.

Everyone in the locker room started dispersing except for Ruby who told her friends that she needed to go to the restroom first and that she will catch up with them later. She waited for everyone to leave the room before taking her Grimm Rose and using her semblance to quickly make her way to the first floor of Beacon Tower, in front of the elevator, to be precise.

The whole floor was empty thanks to everyone gathering around the plaza of the school. It was the perfect time to proceed with her plan, she needn't do much, just kill the maiden.

She was honestly expecting the maiden to be hidden in an extremely hard to find location but in the end, it was almost too easy, easy enough for her to already know where she is.

What made finding the maiden so much easier was the very same thing that helped Ruby the prior day with Ozpin and his guard, Grimm, they were always so useful and the quality of the Grimm she makes is leagues above those that come out of the Grimm spawning pools that are spread around the whole world, it was quite simple, really, Salem was the one who taught her how to use her gifts to their utmost limitations, she hadn't fully mastered the creation of Grimm but that doesn't change the fact that a Grimm created by her directly will be better than those coming out of the pools, she couldn't wait until she reaches Salem's level. If that was even possible.

The specific kind of Grimm she used was one as small as a fingernail, she created several of them and set them loose to search the whole school at night, they had small tails that resembled drills, allowing them to dig through the walls and ground for searching.

"Here goes." She said, stepping into the elevator, she looked under her as she extended Grimm Rose, cutting a hole through the elevator and dropping down would be quite easy. But that isn't why she hesitated.

As soon as her feet touch the ground of that basement she is virtually guaranteed to never see Jaune and Yang ever again, needless to say, she had a problem accepting that fact, especially when it comes to Yang.

Long ago, they both promised each other to always stay by each other's side, Ruby wanted to make up on that promise, she really did. Imagining how heartbroken Yang would be broke Ruby's own heart. Deep down, Ruby hoped that Yang could find it in her to forgive her, she knew it was an outrageous thing to wish for, as there is no way Yang would forgive this.

But even with all that, even with how much she did not want to lose either of her two friends, she promised Salem one thing and she had to deliver, failing again was simply not an option.

And so, Ruby raised her scythe and forced her arms as she swung downward, two things shattered with that swing, the elevator's floor was one, the second was Ruby's heart.

...

"So, are there any questions regarding your mission before we proceed?" The headmaster of Beacon asked out loud. He then waited to check if any of them do have questions, that was when he heard Glynda's voice from behind him.

"Professor Ozpin, I've just been sent a notification on my scroll, there is something wrong with the elevator in Beacon Tower." Was what she said.

If the problem was with any other elevator then it wouldn't have been a big deal, he could just get it fixed, but that specific one? Under it was a secret none from the school except for his most trusted should know. The simple fact of it needing maintenance was a big problem.

"Professor Ozpin." He heard a different voice call out his name, looking behind him, he spotted Yang Xiao Long with one arm raised.

"Can I help you, miss Xiao long?" He asked, half of his mind still occupied by the problem with the elevator.

"Yeah, umm... My friend, Ruby, she's kinda late, can we wait for her a few more minutes?" She requested, Ozpin felt a shiver run through his body with the mention of the name. Of course, this was it, he should have figured it out immediately.

He looked around, confirming that the redhead was indeed missing.

This was bad. This was very, very bad.

...

Damn it, how deep was this damn basement! Ruby thought, she had been falling for almost a whole minute and she was still unable to spot the ground under her, this basement was as deep as Beacon Tower is tall.

But it mattered not, not at all, the moment she dropped into this place was the moment she decided to end this, she just needed to pull the trigger one time and one time only, nobody else needs to be hurt today, no one other than the maiden. She was still somewhat against the idea of killing but now she had a huge motivation, that motivation was simply proving herself to Salem once more.

Still, the idea of killing... it brought back memories, and they weren't the kind of memories to make someone feel nostalgic, it was the kind that was, in fact, the exact opposite. Memories that made her feel wistful and traumatized.

-Ten Months Ago-

"FINE!" Ruby yelled. And not only that, she yelled at Salem herself. The Fourteen-year-old extended her scythe and grabbed the tied huntsman and pulled him away, to a private spot. She was angry now- no, she was furious now, Salem understood it and even respected it which was the only reason Ruby wasn't going to suffer any consequences for yelling at her.

"I'll be waiting here." Salem replied, maintaining her composure as she saw Ruby disappear into the trees, the man being dragged behind her trying to yell as loud as possible but simply

was unable to do so thanks to the tape around his mouth, all that came out was muffled grunts.

Ruby walked for almost a whole minute, after deciding she was far enough, she set the man on the ground, his back against a tree. She didn't know where to begin with this, what was she even supposed to do?! Taking someone's life was never one of the things she thought she'd be doing now, as naive as that it, considering that she knew the line of work in which her family and she are involved in.

She looked at the man in front of her, tears were clearly forming in his eyes, making this all the harder, she kept resisting the urge to understand the muffled yells of the man but they were all too clear for her to not understand, he was definitely begging for his life, she wanted to not believe that, she wanted to lie to her own brain and think that it just sounds that way because his mouth is taped, but she couldn't, it was way too obvious.

She raised her scythe in the air, every second, no, every milli-second tore a part of her soul, especially after the man started squirming with all his might right in front of her, not even caring for how pathetic he might look, she didn't blame him though, she couldn't.

For her, the murderer, it was all so easy, just swing your weapon at him, but for him it was different, as soon as she decides to swing the scythe she decides to strip every little thing away from him, she'd be erasing him, his dreams, his hopes, and his beliefs.

This is not even putting into mind how much suffering she would be putting his family and friends in, who knows if he has children? She could be indirectly ruining the lives of even more people.

She was lost in those thoughts, only now regaining her wit after realizing that she had her scythe raised in the air for almost a minute. She sighed, she was torturing this man by being indecisive herself. She could only imagine how it would feel like to be him, not knowing if you're about to be spared or brutally murdered.

But that was enough, it was time to end this. "I'm sorry, I'm very sorry." She said, the man's heart skipped a beat as he saw her scythe coming straight for his head, his body jumped as he forced his head to look away.

Ruby's arms jerked upwards, yanking the scythe with them, she saw the scythe miss the man's head and hit the tree instead, completely tearing it in half. "Damnit, damnit! DAMNIT!" Ruby yelled as she furiously threw her weapon on the ground and fell on her knees. "GOD DAMN IT!" She yelled once more, no matter how many times she wavered in making her decision, she had to get this over with.

What did she ever do to deserve this agony?! Her currently-frantic heart had to make the decision and put an end to this. She picked up her scythe once more, this time adamant on going through with this, an involuntary scream forced its way out of her mouth as she swung once more. Again, she bemused herself with her own impotence as she once again failed to withhold her emotions and struck the ground instead, her scythe tore through the thick ground as if it were butter.

This time she refused to yell or scream, she simply left her scythe the way it is and calmly sat on the ground. She looked at the man, she had no damn idea what to do.

Correction, she knew what she wanted to do and she refused to believe that she was about to do it, her body, almost unwillingly, stood up once more, she simply grabbed her scythe and to the man's shock, started tearing the rope he was tied with, she then took the tape off his mouth and calmly whispered the words. "Leave, please leave before I change my mind."

The man failed to understand what had happened. The girl looked dejected but even so she just offered him his freedom? She looked as if she was overcome by dozens of different emotions, each of them opposing the other by one-hundred and eighty degrees.

Even if that was the case and even if that was intriguing, he decided to listen to the girl's advice and found himself off the ground and running away, the adrenaline flowing through his body made it hard for him to realize that he ran for five minutes straight. His heart lightened as he started hearing the sound of civilization, he could see a thick wall of plants in front of him, the sound was coming from behind them, if there was one thing he needed to do it was to assemble all the huntsmen he can find and report this place to the Huntsmen Academies.

He neared the wall of plants, the sound of people, cars, and many different things were clearer now, but there was one sound that suddenly came out of nowhere, it came from behind him, he heard what he could only describe as the air whistling and it forced a shiver down his body, he turned around only to spot what looked like a black ball flying in the air, he couldn't even comprehend what happened as he barely spotted the scythe the girl had with the tip of his eye.

And it was headed straight for him.

...

A sudden realization of how close Ruby was to the bottom of the basement brought her out of her thoughts. She pressed a button on her trusty weapon, its shape started contorting and in a second it switched forms completely, rather than a scythe it became a double-sided spear.

All the four sides of the wall were close to her which meant that upon reaching its full length, her weapon stabbed into the concrete walls, she held on tight.

Her aura flared and the pain in her arms made her wince, she was falling extremely fast and if she didn't have aura her arms would have been likely ripped away from her because of the sudden halt.

This was all thanks to her naivety, even a moment out of focus while doing her work was dangerous and she allowed herself that for well over a moment.

She pressed another button on her weapon before it transformed into its square form, the one she uses when holstering it. Now the fall wasn't enough to hurt her at all and she easily landed on both her feet without even a slight stagger.

She immediately found herself stretching, what just happened took out a big chunk of her aura but at least her whole body was still intact.

She moved forward, walking through a small hallway that had a door at the end, every moment or so she found herself checking on her weapon, it made her feel safer.

She eventually reached the door at the end of the hallway and it opened automatically for her, she walked through and her eyes widened as she was greeted by a huge bunker-like room, at the end of it was her goal.

Her eyes set on the maiden in the tank and she extended her weapon into its rifle form as she moved towards her.

Time went by fast, fast enough that she could barely feel it, she was in front of the near-dead maiden before she knew it.

Her grip on Grimm Rose tightened. Was she really going to kill this helpless woman? She wasn't dangerous to them anymore, in fact, she couldn't even hurt a fly! She looked as if she would die even if they didn't kill her!

But no, she knew the answer, this maiden might not have been dangerous anymore but the power within her is, that's why they needed the power, to make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of the huntsmen, and that's why they needed to kill her.

Just pull the trigger once, only once, and the power would go to find its other half, Cinder.

And so she aimed her weapon on the defenseless maiden, trying to force her finger to pull the trigger wasn't easy, not at all, but she was finally getting close to doing it.

"Ruby." A chilling and calm voice rang from behind her, she quickly jerked her body and aimed her weapon on the person that she knew was behind her.

She found the person she expected, Ozpin. But she also found someone familiar next to him.

"Qrow?" She said, surprised and admittedly, scared. She was now facing one of the greatest huntsmen she ever heard of, and it did not look like he was happy with her, not one bit.

"May I ask you a question?" Ozpin said, she was at least comfortable that she could escape, both of them were about twenty feet away from her and she had the advantage of her semblance.

She didn't bother answering him so he spoke again. "Why?" He phrased his seemingly simple question.

No, screw this, screw him, and finally, screw his questions, she couldn't trust him, especially after he found her here.

She quickly formulated a plan, she found the easiest possible route to escape from and quickly turned around to shoot the maiden, this time, she did not hesitate to pull the trigger.

*Click* Was the sound she heard as her heart dropped, her gun was jammed!

"Aye, my semblance can be useful every now and then." Remarked a very irritated Qrow as he walked closer to her, she took a few steps back. "You're coming with us, kiddo." He said as he extended his hand to grab her cape.

She quickly switched Grimm Rose to scythe form and moved back further, she needed to think and she needed to do that quickly.

"Please, Miss Ruby, do not make us do this." She heard Ozpin say but paid him no mind, it doesn't matter if she surrenders or not he'll still do all sorts of horrible things, she could see it as far as him brainwashing her to be like one of his puppet huntsmen.

Ozpin sighed as he saw her determination. "Fine, I did not want to go through with this but you've left me no choice, I apologize." He said, Ruby paid full attention to her surroundings as not to get surrounded.

Ozpin then spoke once more. "Miss Goodwitch." He said.

And that's when Ruby realized that what he had prepared was far worse than a trap or ambush. She almost unwillingly dropped her weapon as she saw Glynda walk into the bunker, next to her was Yang... in handcuffs and her mouth was taped shut.

"We've determined that you had a partner in crime, Ruby, and even if she was my niece, she needs to be punished for those crimes." Qrow said.

No, there was no way, there was no way Qrow would agree to such a thing!

"No! She has nothing to do with all of this! Leave her be!" Ruby yelled. Yang didn't deserve any of this, she was just mixed up in something that doesn't concern her!

"I assure you, Ruby, nothing bad will happen to either of you if you simply drop your weapon and come with us."

Like she'd ever believe that! Her best bet was to just kill the maiden now using her scythe and then try to rescue Yang with her semblance.

But before she could decide, she saw Ozpin take the tape off of Yang's mouth.

Ruby felt guilty, so guilty for bringing her friend into this. "Yang, j-just wait! I'll think of something!" She tried reassuring her friend but Yang only shook her head.

"No Ruby, I don't know what's happening here but please, please just listen to them. Uncle Qrow wouldn't lie."

Damn it! Why did everything come crashing down like this all of a sudden? Had she been threatened with her own life she wouldn't have cared as much as she is caring about Yang's safety.

"Listen to her, kid." She heard Qrow say as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

Ruby sighed as she realized what had just happened... she had just failed her family and mother once again, she had once again destroyed their faith in her.

The handcuffs tightened around her hands after she dropped her weapon to the ground, Qrow grabbed her by the shoulder and started pulling her towards the exit.

"What about Yang?" Ruby asked with concern.

"Take a look for yourself." He said, Ruby's eyes went to look at Yang and were met with the very confusing sight of Glynda unlocking Yang's handcuffs.

"I'm sorry, Ruby." She heard Yang say as she passed by her, she also noticed tears rolling down Yang's cheeks.

"Wait? What's happening?!" Ruby started struggling and tried to go back to Yang so she can make sure she's safe. Qrow was about ready to just lift her up and take her when Ozpin interjected.

"I'll take it from here, Qrow. You should stay with your Niece."

"I don't understand, what's happening!?" Ruby yelled as Ozpin came and stood by her side, Qrow went to Yang and hugged her.

"I'm sorry, Miss Ruby, but Yang was never in any danger. And so are you, I assure you." He sighed before continuing. "We just needed to make sure you came without a fight so we told her our intentions."

No, it couldn't be, Yang would never do that, never! He was just playing mind games on her!

Ozpin sighed again. "She agreed to help us."

Ruby's heart felt like it was stabbed by a hundred knives, this wasn't just betrayal, this was betrayal from her best friend!

The tears she didn't realize were falling started dropping to the floor, her eyes never stopped looking at Yang as Ozpin pulled her away.

...

What was this feeling inside of her?

Sadness? Agony? Despair? Hurt? Betrayal? Failure? Stupidity? Naivety? Lonliness? Scared? Woeful? Wicked? Distress? Sorrow? Anger? Tricked? hateful?

No, no no no no no no, it wasn't any of them, not one. It is something else. But what is it?

They were talking to her, she was talking to her, she should probably be paying attention, but she didn't want to, why? She didn't really know.

It was no use, she heard what they were saying and she understood it very well, she knows how Yang is standing across the table, she knows how many times she apologized.

But why did she? She didn't need to, Ruby was going to betray her too.

She also knew how Qrow had finally given up and how he is currently trying to convince Yang to leave Ruby in the interrogation room alone, and he did manage to convince her, she heard one last apology but she didn't really care, it didn't really make a difference, did it?

Oh, here he comes, Ozpin, she figured he'd be here sooner or later, well, she wasn't going to let him brainwash her yet, no, not yet. She still needed to figure out what the damned word is.

But he was harder to ignore, not like Yang, when he spoke she listened more, she concentrated more.

He was a liar. She heard all he had to say and didn't believe a single thing.

"We can help you."

No, they won't help her. Well, they can try, but in the end, they aren't helping her for any reason other than making sure that one threat has been dealt with, they didn't actually care about anything else.

"You were dragged into a life you had nothing to do with."

No, it was her choice to live this life, maybe not at the start but now it is, her family gave her everything, knowledge from one, strength from the other, fun from one, and passion from another.

But what did she give her? What did Salem give her?

Well, that's a silly question, really, she gave her everything, life, love, power, all of it.

These people though? Their only interest is to take that away and use it for their own good.

"They aren't as good as you think they are."

When she thought about it though, there was one thing that she believed, they were right, they are the good guys, we are the bad guys.

Well, from their perspective, at least. Yes, that was all of it, it was just a matter of perspective, of the way you view the world.

There wouldn't be any good without any bad because there would be nothing to consider good if it can't be compared to what is bad. The same goes for anything bad.

Good guys don't exist without bad guys, it was just a matter of how each person chooses who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.

What was the word... what was it, what on Remnant was it?!

Oh yeah, a matter of perspective.

That's it, now she knows.

"I want to see Yang." She had finally spoken after hours of silence, was this a weird request? Probably, she had just left after Ruby refused to talk to her, after all.

Still, they'd probably let her in with the hopes of getting any sort of information from Ruby, well, she was going to give them all the information they'd ever need.

She didn't listen to any more words until Yang was in the room with her uncle, but she didn't want him here, she was going to say this to Yang.

She knew they're probably still able to hear her because of the sound recorders but she was still only going to say this to Yang.

It's not like they'll be able to listen to those recordings later anyway.

"Leave." She said with her cold voice, the man almost laughed, she could predict what he was about to say, something close to how there was no chance in hell he'd do that, that's why she cut him off before he could speak.

"Leave." She repeated, He tried again.

"Leave." No matter how many times it took for her to make him go out, she'd keep saying the same word.

"It's fine Uncle Qrow, she won't do anything," Yang said, good, that saves a lot of time.

He left after murmuring some sort of threat, who cares, really?

"Yang." She pushed her body forward, her hands still chained to the metal chair.

"How do I feel right now?" She asked, Yang was expectedly taken aback from the question.

"I-I"

"Answer the question. How do I feel?" She repeated, Yang took a deep breath.

"Hurt?" She barely mouthed, it almost sounded pathetic, this wasn't the normal Yang.

"No, try again." Her eyes were cold enough to freeze water yet her gaze was enough to boil it.

'I... s-sad?"

"No, again." She wasn't going to get it, that's why she was on the so-called good side.

"I don't know! I'm sorry, I don-"

"Don't be sorry, you don't need to be, you betrayed me and I betrayed you, we were destined for this since the start. I was just as horrible to you as you were to me."

She thought of the words again.

It was sadness, no, it was agony, no, despair. Hurt. Betrayed. Failure. Stupidity. Naivety. Alone. Scared. Woeful. Wicked. Distress. Sorrow. Anger. Trickery. hateful.

That was it.

"I'll tell you how I feel Yang, I feel all of them, every single one of them."

She finally understood Salem's perspective, she finally found out why these people are her enemy, it was hate.

Hate hate hate hate hate.

And she'll make sure they hate her as well.

* * *

 **Some people will probably hate where I went with this story and THAT'S OKAY, it won't be for everyone but I hope it's clear, this story won't be spending much time in Beacon, this is a story about Ruby and her 'Family' and it will stay like that, doing a Beacon arc will only make this story worse and reduce my capabilities for being original, don't worry though, I still have lots of plans for the future.**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	26. Chapter 24: One And The Same

**So, just to make this clear, yes, I'm still going to be coming back at the designated time, but I just really felt like giving you guys something, and I almost destroyed my whole schedule just to make this for you guys, it isn't long, but I hope it's enough until I'm officially back, please Enjoy!**

 ** _Little Grimm Riding Hood_**

 ** _Chapter 24: One And The Same_**

* * *

"I don't understand, feel what? I can't understand what you're saying!" Yang said, full of confusion.

"You can go now, I've said all that I'll say." Answered the redhead.

"No, no, I won't leave, let me help you, just tell them everything and they'll-"

"They'll what Yang, huh? What are they going to do? Use the information I gave them against me? Well, too bad, that's not going to happen." Ruby shot back at Yang.

"What's this twisted view you have on them?! They've been protecting Remnant for years and years, they know what they're doing!"

"They? Oh, you're so, so funny, Yang... they don't know a thing, not one thing."

"What's the point you're trying to prove?!" Yang snapped, her hands slamming onto the table out of stress.

"It's quite simple, you shouldn't have said 'They' at all." Ruby paused, gave the slightest of grins, then spoke again. "It's more like 'He' knows what he's doing."

"He?" was Yang's simple reply.

"Yes, he, your oh so precious protector of humanity, Ozpin." She answered with a hint of ridicule.

"He wouldn't have been the headmaster otherwise."

"He's the headmaster because he won't let anyone else have knowledge besides him, he's the headmaster because he's a self-centered prick who doesn't worry about those who once cared about him!"

The echo of the words seemed to last forever, repeating inside Yang's head and those who were listening from outside through the glass.

Ozpin decided that this would be enough, she clearly has knowledge, knowledge that would be too much of a burden to bear for someone like Qrow, Yang, and Glynda.

And so he extended his hand for the doorknob, but that's when the thing he expected the least happened, a hand stopped him from reaching it, he looked beside him, to see that it was Qrow. With a look on his face that described one thing and one thing only, the only thing he couldn't let them feel.

Curiosity.

Yang took a deep breath. "Ruby, Ozpin has been the headmaster for this academy for over ten years, he's bound to know things we don't, and that's a part of his job."

"It's a lot more than ten years, believe me." Ruby let a grin form on her face as she said so.

Qrow's eyebrows were raised, his grip on Ozpin's hand tightened to make sure he doesn't reach the doorknob.

"Qrow, let go of me," Ozpin said.

"I want to hear her out," Qrow replied.

Their argument was thankfully stopped by Glynda, who spoke up. "Both of you, be silent, watch."

With her words, they looked through the glass, only to see Ruby's Grimm eye, which is usually completely black, show the slightest hint of red.

"I've said enough for now," Ruby said, Ozpin snatched his hand away from Qrow and took the opportunity to walk in, both girls looked at him, then he noticed the looks everybody gave him, it was the worst possible look, distrust.

How could he be so naive? He did the exact thing she wanted, he proved that she has truth to her words, that's what the guilty do, after all, they do their best to hide their crime... and that's what he just did.

If he had no doubts, if he wasn't worried, if he made it all seem like a big lie and never showed any stress, they would have been less inclined to believe her.

She's obviously done her job well.

...

In very little time, Ruby found herself locked into an almost prison-like cell, but it wasn't quite like that, the walls were all white, almost resembling the rooms that insane patients stay at when in an asylum.

And she was now alone with Ozpin, who was obviously close to his wit's end.

"I must say, miss Ruby, to beat me so easily, even in such a position, you've done well." He said as he looked at her, she was sitting on the ground in the corner, her head resting on her kneecaps and her hands still in chains.

"I only said the truth, something of which you're clearly incapable of doing." She replied, with the most passive-aggressive smile he'd ever seen in his years on Remnant.

"I hide the truth because no one else deserves to live in the pain I live in."

"You hide it because you're a coward, incapable of gaining the full trust of others, of getting their loyalty, and why? Because you know you're dragging them down to their death. Don't you?" She replied, his expression did not change yet he did not manage to reply.

"Why do you count on them anyway? Why bring them into this? You know you can't win, it is how it is, so why?" She added to her previous statement.

Ozpin, for once, looked irritated, he scratched his chin and then spoke. "Because I'd never be able to live with myself if I didn't try."

"And so you choose to waste others' lives instead of yours? Isn't that greedy? Especially since you always come back to life?"

"Enough of your mind games!" He snapped, not quite shouting, only speaking more tensely. "You're stuck in a loophole, miss Ruby. That's why I gave you the benefit of the doubt." He added, she looked at him with confusion.

"You're struggling, a good person at heart, following an evil path, it isn't who you are, who you were supposed to be." He explained, then added. "And I'm willing to do everything in my power to make you the person you deserve to be."

Is this how he convinced them? With those sweet words? He just told them everything they wanted to hear? Did they not care if it was lies? If it was just a dagger waiting to stab them in the back after they discovered the truth? Or did they just not see it?

"You're wasting your time, I'm well aware of you, your honeyed words are only that, words, but their core is made up of a lie waiting to explode back on whoever trusts it."

Ozpin simply sighed. "I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, or child on this planet... I don't want to believe that trying to bring you to light is one of them."

With those words spoken, neither had any more to say, and Ozpin made his way out of the room.

...

Hours passed, silence resumed, not a single sound could be heard in her room, nor outside of it.

She hadn't taken her medication in who knows how long, that side of her had already been taking over during her conversation with Yang and Ozpin, but she was still herself, for the most part.

But now? Now it would start to be too much for her to handle, her other side wasn't restrained and there was no one to stop it from completely taking over.

The only person capable of dealing with this was Ruby herself, she knew it in her heart, she knew it in her brain, and Salem had told her so countless times, the last one being before she left for Beacon.

Sure, she could just call for help, explain that she needs her pills, but what good would that do? Hell, it might be a worse outcome.

That was the most annoying part, she needed it, she needed that other side, and she needed the powers it brings with it. Otherwise, she'd be stuck here.

Her chest started to ache, breathing became progressively harder, and her hands felt numb. It was starting.

Whenever something like this happened, she had someone help her, someone bringing her the pills, or even helping her snap out of it when the need be.

But now she was alone.

Alone with all the knowledge Salem gave her, she needed to remember, she needed to focus.

A week before she left for Beacon, her and Salem were walking together in the woods, Salem giving her the advice she would need in such a situation.

"Let it out, but don't let it loose. You either become its master... or its slave."

Ruby took a deep breath as she repeated the words inside her head, this was a battle of will, and she wasn't about to lose it.

If there was a monster inside of her, a ravaging spirit that wanted destruction and nothing more, she wouldn't try to beat it, she would do what's better than that.

She would control it and only let it destroy what she deems worthy of destruction. She would become the pilot that controls the ship in the middle of a never-ending hurricane.

Her Grimm eye flared, her Silver eye shined, scintillating the entire room with a color so complicated to describe, she opened both eyes, she couldn't see her own face, but if she could, she would see that her Silver eye had turned half Black, and her Grimm eye had turned half Silver.

She felt the pressure coming off her lungs, and before long could breathe again, this wasn't too bad.

She sighed a sigh of relief as she got up, she felt a drastic change in her powers, and she was about to test it.

And so, with a snap of her fingers, a Boarbatusk was summoned by her side, with armor so strong that it was almost ten times stronger than that of a normal one.

Just by looking at the door to the room was the order given, the Grimm charged and broke down the door just as if it was a wall of cardboard.

And then, The Grimm Princess walked through it, she was met with dozens of guards, all with advanced weapons aimed at her, she let a grin form on her face as she exhaled deeply.

It was time for them to hate her as well.

* * *

 **This chapter was 1.7K words long, I sincerely hope you enjoyed.**

 ** _Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!_**


	27. Chapter 25: Two Scythes, One Bird

**I'm laaaaaaaaaate! I know, I know! Sorry!**

 **I couldn't help it, transitioning from working all day long and finally having free time was way harder than I thought it would be. Please take it easy on me.**

 **I'm gonna go ahead and say that we are still following the schedule I made (Little Grimm Riding Hood every Sunday and Thursday.) But I also need to admit that I might only be updating every Sunday for the next 3 weeks, I need to slowly get back into the rhythm of things so please wait just a while longer for the double updates to kick off.**

 **This chapter is 4.7K words, I hope you like it.**

 **Little Grimm Riding Hood is back.**

 **And it's back for good.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 25: Two Scythes, One Bird.**_

* * *

Ozpin's day wasn't that great. It was actually quite the contrary, he looked forward to seeing the abilities and limits of the new students of Beacon.

Yet sadly, after the recent confrontation with Ruby, initiation had to be postponed.

It was for the best. Better safe than sorry.

The old man sighed, Salem had made her move, he was lucky to stop it in time.

But what on Remnant was he supposed to do with Ruby now?

Thousands of years of experience and still no answer. Sometimes he doubted his own age.

A beep of the elevator -which had already gotten repaired- snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Qrow? How is your niece?" Ozpin spoke as the Huntsman walked in.

"She's better, but still in a pretty bad state. At least she's speaking now."

"She had been refusing to speak?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, she didn't speak a word for a while after speaking to that girl."

"Ruby, you mean?"

"Yup." Qrow sighed. "I can't believe I let that little shit live with my niece and her dad for so long, I should have known."

"No one could have known, Qrow. She was a friend of Yang's for years. Right?"

"Yeah, she was. She was a friend that worked for Salem. For Dust's sake, Ozpin, stop making it sound as if it wasn't a big deal." Qrow brought a hand up to wipe a few drops of sweat off his forehead, he had been running around Beacon all day long.

Ozpin opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't, the reason was simple, Qrow was right. There was still one thing on his mind, however, and he dared speak it. "We still aren't sure if she's working for Salem directly, she could just be a pawn in someone's hand."

Qrow gave out a chuckle at the thought itself. "Yeah, right. Because they're going to send a random pawn to kill a maiden."

Ozpin brought his hands together. "Your words ring true, Qrow. But I'm afraid that's not all." Ozpin leaned closer. "Would you send one soldier to fight a war?" He asked.

Qrow looked confused for a moment but eventually caught on. "So you think she's not alone?"

"I'm positive, Salem is no fool, she would never think that one mere girl could pull off something like this."

It was true that the girl is as good as any huntress in-training, even with the fact that she was younger than most.

Even a spy as good as Qrow should have trouble accomplishing such a mission.

"Yet she still came that close to doing so," Qrow remarked. "Don't lie to yourself, Ozpin, she made it that far because she's clearly capable."

"Or we were naive."

"They both lead to the same thing!" Qrow finally snapped with a hand unconsciously leaning over his flask of drink. "It's not going to matter if she's good at doing her job or we're bad at doing ours. We need to stop making excuses and start taking action."

His hand finally unhooked the flask and he couldn't resist the urge to take a long drink. "You know I've seen the same things you've seen, the horror waiting for us outside, I know how scared people should be." Qrow paused for but a moment. "So, stop treating me like I'm a damned idiot. Stop being afraid to make a move. And stop trying to make this sound as if it's no big deal!"

The air hung as Qrow's voice finally faded away, much of his words were true. The only sound that could be heard was the liquid running inside Qrow's throat.

"And I'm not," Ozpin said with a calm tone. "I'm merely trying to stay alert to all possibilities." He brought his hands apart and sighed. "I'm well aware that there are things that need to be changed, do not worry, Qrow, I promise you we will be very cautious."

Despite letting out a grunt, Qrow was comfortable enough to drop the subject after being reassured. Though he also just leaned back and stared at the ceiling, not even bothering to say a word.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the act. "Is something on your mind, Qrow?" He asked.

The drunkard tilted his head to look back at him. "You want an honest answer?" He asked.

Ozpin's curiosity got the better of him. "Of course, I wouldn't want anything else."

"I'm worried, Ozpin," Qrow explained as he leaned forward. "The things the girl said in the room." He added.

Ozpin had managed to hold his surprise back, simply because he knew this could be brought up as soon as Qrow walked into the office.

Qrow decided to continue before Ozpin got a chance to reply. "I'm not worried about what she said." He paused and looked Ozpin in the eyes. "I'm worried about the way you reacted to it."

'Since when was Qrow so much like Glynda?' Ozpin thought. He couldn't blame the man, he had just found out that his niece and friend had been living with a spy for well over a few months.

Still, maybe telling Qrow a bit of the truth wouldn't hurt... it might even help in the end.

"I will admit that some of her words have an extent of legitimacy to them, even if only slight." Qrow flinched at the words. "But the fact remains that her view is tainted, she says things that are just true enough to not be considered lies yet they are modified enough to not be the truth, either."

Qrow wasn't sure what to reply with, he couldn't say he liked it -but he definitely understood it.-

He mentally groaned before he spoke. "I get it, Oz, I don't expect to know everything." He himself knew that he only half believed what he just said. "But I'm going to need your word that if I deserve, -need- to know something, I can count on you to not keep it a secret. Whether it is for protecting my niece or just to grasp what I'm getting myself into."

Ozpin managed to let a smile form on his lips. "And on that, you have my word, thank you for understanding, Qrow." He finally felt comfortable enough to sip on his coffee. "And as I've told you when you were but a student, 'Some things are-' "

"Best left unknown." Qrow completed before Ozpin got a chance to finish.

The headmaster gave a genuine smile. "You remember?"

Qrow snarked. "Heh, vividly."

A beep from the elevator earned both of the men's attention, they watched as the doors slid open, revealing a quite hasty and shocked Glynda Goodwitch.

"Professor Ozpin, there is a matter of utmost-" She stumbled on her feet. "Importance that needs your attention!"

Ozpin stood up immediately, he never saw Glynda in such a state before. "What is the matter, Glynda?"

"It's the girl, Ozpin. She's escaped and sabotaged all cameras and security systems!"

Qrow was on his feet before he knew it and Ozpin's hand tightened around his cane. "Is she alone? Does she have any hostages? Where exactly is she?" The headmaster asked question after the other.

Glynda answered. "She has no hostages and she's making her way down the tower as we speak... she is not alone."

Ozpin's eyes widened. "Who's with her?" He asked.

"It's not who's with her, Ozpin." She replied, then added. "It's what is with her... she has Grimm following her very commands."

Qrow's hand tightened around Harbinger's hilt. "How the hell can she do that?!" He asked.

"It doesn't matter now, we must intercept her and quickly! The maiden is still in danger!"

Qrow nodded, letting it go as he extended Harbinger to its sword form. "I'm the fastest, I can get there quickly, you two meet me there."

Both Glynda and Ozpin nodded as Qrow hopped out of a window; a trail of feathers following him.

...

He had many guards, she'll give him that. At least a dozen on each level.

They were hired from Atlas, by the looks of it.

Had he never heard of quality over quantity, though? Sure, the soldiers were tough, maybe tough enough to beat Grimm.

But they had miles to go before standing a chance to defeat Grimm made by her; they were stronger than the normal ones, after all, especially in the numbers that they were in.

She was close to the vault, though, she had to be.

What was quite vexing, however, was the fact that she couldn't bring herself to use the elevator. It would be too dangerous.

Grimm Rose was nowhere to be found. How annoying was that? With her weapon in hand, she could at least convince the Grimm to stop forming a protective circle around her.

That was a setback she faced with only the Grimm she created herself, they would do as she asked, however, they would also make sure to protect her, -their alpha, in a way.- Over anything else.

She watched as a moron of a soldier tried to jump over the Grimm and reach her, his braveness, -if it could even be considered as such.- Ended with an Ursa snatching him from the air and tossing him away.

While he was in said Ursa's grasp, however, Ruby noticed his badge. He was an officer. An officer must have known a lot about the place.

Using a burst of her semblance, Ruby made her way to where the man had fallen, dizzy as he may have been, he clearly was still able to distinguish her face, considering how he jerked away from her, that is.

Even with how fast she had sprinted to reach the man, the Grimm somehow still managed to follow her and re-form the protective circle they had.

She commanded them to not hurt him. She then looked into the man's eyes. He flinched as her right eye started shining with a soft Red color. Her left eye shined with a faint hint of Silver, completely contrasting the other.

"You see that? That's a very aggressive Grimm, I'm sure you heard about those in your training." She mouthed as she poked the man on the chest. "Now, I can just tell the Grimm to end you right now. But none of us wants that now, do we?"

The man nodded through gritted teeth.

"Great! Tell me where my weapon is and I'll be long gone."

"Like hell I will! You're dangerous enough without-"

"Shut the hell up." Ruby interrupted. "Seriously, what's with you guys and acting as if you don't give a crap about your life? It's getting really annoying." She said as she called a Grimm closer.

The man reached for a knife strapped under his belt but Ruby was faster as she snatched it and threw it away. The Grimm that came closer showed clear signs of aggression at the mere act of the soldier trying to pull his knife.

"Oops, you made them angry. That's bad." Ruby said as she patted the beowulf. "Now, I'm not going to say this again." She added as the Grimm's mouth got obnoxiously close to the man's face, its jaw opened, revealing a terrifying set of fangs and sharp teeth.

"Where. Is. My. Weapon?"

A drool of saliva fell on the man's chest. He was hesitant, but when the Grimm suddenly snarked, it pushed the man enough to finally break him. "Alright! Alright! I'll tell you." He cried out.

"Good boy."

...

Qrow sat on a box in the storage room, Ruby's weapon next to him. He had been waiting for minutes now and had started to grow tired of it, he was relieved when the door to the room finally opened.

"Took you long enough, brat." He worded as Ruby walked in, she let out a hint of surprise at his presence but did not seem fazed. "Y'know. It was pretty easy to guess that you'd come to take your weapon, maybe you should work on becoming a little less predictable."

A few Grimm walked into the room behind Ruby, letting out growls at the man. "Oh, wow, that's so scary," Qrow spoke as he looked at the Grimm. "It's not like I kill those on a daily basis or anything."

"You're so funny, Qrow," Ruby said as a few more Grimm entered. "Is Ozpin too busy to come here himself? Or does he always send his puppets to do his work?"

"You're one to talk." He replied as he pushed himself to his feet. "But I work for someone that's trying to help the world, someone trying to stop people like you."

"So heroic, you'll make me shed tears!" She ridiculed as she wiped an imaginary tear off her eye. Her expression shifted back to one of seriousness. "But do you seriously believe that?"

"I know what I must know, it's enough."

"That's what he makes you think. You know nothing."

"I know his goal is enough to make me help."

"His goal is unreachable!" She snapped. "You know his biggest secret, don't you, Qrow? You know that he never dies." She said.

"What are you getting at?" He replied, one hand holding the hilt of Harbinger and one eyebrow raised.

"Do you really think you're the first person he will waste the life of, Qrow?" She explained. "He tried once, twice, hundreds of times! Each with a different life! It always ended the same!" She took a breath. "Everyone that helped him suffered for it, he cares for nothing other than completing his goal." She paused one more time. "So, if you think you'll be the last, you're lying to yourself."

"I don't need your lecture, kid." He answered. "You're not much better anyway. Who do you work for? Hazel? Watts? Salem?" He grinned. "How do you know they're not hiding anything from you?"

Ruby needn't think about it for a moment, Salem wouldn't lie, she quite literally had no reason to. There was nothing that can be done to defeat her, absolutely nothing.

"They don't have a reason to." She replied.

"Really now? And how are you so sure?"

"Because you can't defeat them." She shot back.

"Then why are they hiding?"

Ruby opened her mouth to speak but was surprised by the lack of words that would follow.

"I mean, come on, if they have nothing to be afraid of then why not just come and take what they want? I'm sure it would be a lot easier." Qrow added.

"They have their reasons." Ruby tried.

Qrow snickered. "And you don't know those reasons? I thought they told you everything."

Ruby bit the inside of her mouth as a result of her defeat.

"See, girl? We're in the same spot. But at least I can rest easy knowing I'm working with someone who has a noble goal."

"I think I've had enough talk with you," Ruby said through gritted teeth.

"Alright then, come take your weapon."

The room rang with silence, one could hear the other's breath. Ruby took the initiative, a burst of her semblance to run past Qrow, she was met with his blade coming to intercept her.

His reactions were fast, as expected of a legendary Huntsman.

He counted on her to be surprised and retreat, she, however, decided to switch direction and run past him on the other side.

She was met with him extending his leg backward to block her way. She slid under it, hand extended to reach for Grimm Rose.

She had finally touched it but did not manage to get a hold of it as he grabbed a hold of her foot and pulled her back. A yelp of surprise forced its way through her mouth as he threw her onto the other side of the room.

She recovered gracefully, however, as she backflipped mid-air and pushed herself off the wall with her feet, dashing forward once more with her semblance.

A Beowulf lunged at Qrow at the same time, distracting him.

It wasn't enough to get the better of the Huntsman, however, as he drove his blade past the creature's chest and kicked it away to block Ruby's path to her weapon before it could dissolve.

She thought quickly. If she kept going the same way she'd hit the dying Grimm, her other option was to move to Qrow's other side, he was prepared for that, however, and she knew he was.

She fainted to the right, just enough for him to believe that she would go for the latter option, he moved to intercept her but she simply slid under his legs and came out the other side.

By the time Qrow had turned around, Ruby had her weapon, -currently displayed as a sword.- Set on his neck.

He, however, was fast enough to do the same. "Heh, smart kid." He said, not losing focus for even a moment. "Tell me, what happened to your eyes? Did you level up or something?"

"I guess you could say that." She smiled right back.

Qrow jumped sideways as a Grimm tried to lunge at him, knowing how most Grimm act like, specifically ones that are so young, he knew it would follow suit.

That's why he turned around, sword swinging with full force.

To his surprise, however, he was only met by air. He looked at the Grimm, it had stayed by Ruby's side.

"Heh, they're not as stupid as they should be." He remarked.

He was right, Grimm created specifically by her should be as smart as a normal Grimm that had lived a few years, which was one of the reasons to why they were considerably stronger.

"And you're not slow, old man."

Qrow's smile dropped at that. "Alright, I guess Ozpin doesn't need you in top shape anyway, let's get you nice and tired now."

Ruby winced with the mention of Ozpin's name, she watched as Qrow sped towards her, sword extended.

She readied her weapon, intercepting a swing coming from her right, she knew how important it would be to not underestimate Qrow, one wrong move and he would make her pay.

Qrow had the upper hand when it came to strength, that was something that they had both realized. Qrow tried to exploit that advantage by overpowering Ruby with pure strength as she parried his strike.

She saw that coming, though, and she had been taught by Cinder, it would be foolish if she would not put that training to use now.

And as such, she decided to only brush against Qrow's strike, with strength just enough to redirect his strike away from her. A spark emerged from the contact.

She had done her best to measure the length of Qrow's blade as their weapons brushed past each other. If she was right, her Grimm Rose should be just a little longer. Which would give her a good advantage.

She jumped backward to get out of his reach. She then reminded herself of another advantage of hers. Just as Cinder had instructed her, she had hidden most forms of Grimm Rose away from Yang, and therefore Qrow as well.

Meaning that he knew nothing about the glaive and spear form. He also didn't know it could be modified in a way that would make it useable with only one hand as a sword.

She had to assume that Qrow knew the length of her blade as well, it would be foolish not to, he could have easily done the same thing she had just done.

And so, Ruby found herself in a position where she had to fight on the offensive.

An order to the Grimm saw one of them lunge at Qrow from the right, most people would have taken the chance to attack alongside the distraction, but she knew better than to try, Qrow was fast and smart, it wouldn't get the better of him, she had to wait for a perfect opening.

Qrow was done with the Grimm within a moment. It didn't take him very long to turn back to Ruby.

Instead of going for a strike with his sword, she found him attempting to kick her, she had just enough time to get out of the way, however, as she stepped to the side.

Qrow then moved his hand horizontally, attempting to slam his weapon into her face, sure, it would hurt like hell, but he knew she had Aura, she wasn't going to die, and the brat was a danger to his niece anyway.

The strike was strong and true, letting Ruby only barely bring her weapon high enough to protect herself, the pure strength of the impact, however, hurled her into the air. She yelped as her back crashed onto the wall of the room, she could even hear the wall crack.

That alone had taken out enough of her Aura, but unfortunately, before fully getting up, she found Qrow's feet tripping her ankle, she dropped on her behind and Qrow kicked her weapon away.

"Still got it." He said, his blade edging on her neck.

He couldn't help but feel regretful when he saw her cough out blood.

He hadn't planned to go this far but the girl was dangerous and the act of pointing his blade at her neck was made solely to make sure she didn't move. He didn't want to hurt her any more than that.

It did not work, however, as her eyes shined both Silver and Red at the same time, it wasn't very bright, just a little spark, but it was enough to distract him just enough for her to use a burst of her semblance and reach her weapon once more.

He was good, almost absurdly so, no tricks could get the better of him, he had the upper hand in strength, height, and experience.

She couldn't even use the advantage her weapon reach gave her simply because of how skilled he was.

'Think, Ruby. Think!' She yelled mentally at herself. She had the advantage in speed, Grimm, and the other forms of her weapon.

She had to use them.

Ruby pressed one button on her weapon before it transformed to a one-handed sword, better balanced and faster, just how she needed it to be.

She extended her sword forward, aiming it at Qrow threateningly, her other arm was wrapped around her own stomach.

It hurt like hell, thanks to how Qrow threw her at the wall earlier. It had likely broken something and her Aura hadn't done enough to fix it yet.

It was stupid of her, Aura only worked if you concentrated it on the part of your body that is about to get hit, she didn't expect Qrow to suddenly slam her into the wall like that, making the damage far worse than it could have been.

Qrow watched her breathe heavily and stagger up as if she could barely control her leg, maybe he took it a bit far...

She ran up to him with the newly modified weapon, a swing to the right he managed to block.

But he then found a swing coming from the other side, it was faster and there was no time between it and the swing before, the girl was using her semblance to attack and with such a shorter weapon, it would be far easier to simply overwhelm him with sheer speed.

He managed to barely move his sword to brush off her attack. However, he was again met by a strike from the other side, this time it was impossible to meet it and Ruby ended up striking a solid strike on his shoulder.

He tried to strike back but he then found her leg moving up, she kicked him hard in the chest before following up with another strike, this time hitting the back of his head.

Qrow, being a very much above average huntsman, was at least skilled enough to be able to concentrate his Aura in just the right spots to avoid serious damage.

It wouldn't help much if things kept going this way, though, and they seemed to be as Ruby continued with yet another strike in her chain of attacks, this one landing just as perfectly as the two before it.

It was frustrating, he knew what she was doing and he also knew her plans and way of executing it. But dealing with it was a completely different matter, she was fast enough to make it practically impossible.

It had continued over and over again and there was nothing he could do about it, he had to bide his time, just do his best to take the least amount of damage possible and maybe manage to block a strike or two. Going for an attack would only give her a clear strike.

'And now!' Qrow thought as he finally found an opening, he attempted to drive his sword through the opening and land a hit, disturbing the rhythm of the chain of attacks.

It didn't work, though, as he was suddenly rushed by dozens of Grimm, it was smart of her to be conservative with how many Grimm she sent his way before. For she could now use a large number to hit him when it really mattered.

He jumped back, attempting to get out of the way but the small space the room gave did not help and he found himself swarmed with Grimm, claws along with bites occasionally finding their way to him through the mess.

His Aura must have been dangerously low.

Fighting such an amount of Grimm off wouldn't be easy. Especially when all he could see was the color black and the occasional red eye.

He finally found himself able to strike one Grimm down and he found an opening to escape their grasp through the hole it left in their ranks, he took the opportunity and raced through the opening.

His eyes spotted one Ruby bolting towards him with her one-handed sword extended.

She was far enough for him to have time to prepare, he thought of how he could counterattack after blocking her strike.

His line of thoughts was broken by a sharp pain in his stomach and an involuntary grunt from his own mouth, he looked down, only to be met with the sight of his very blood.

Looking towards him, he could see Ruby holding a spear, a spear that was now pierced to his gut and the reason for the sudden pain.

He didn't account for it, the distance between them was covered by her weapon extending and becoming at least thrice as long.

It wasn't over, however, as her weapon had a barrel placed right before the tip of her blade. She pulled a trigger and the sound of a bang resonated in the room, followed by a yell from Qrow.

She pulled her spear, he fell on one knee, she set the spear on his throat.

He rested a hand on the wound and his clothes started drenching with blood, he sensed the Grimm attempt to attack him from the back to finish the job.

He cursed as he abruptly turned into his avian form and escaped out of the door.

He didn't take it too far, that girl was damn dangerous.

* * *

 **I sincerely hope you enjoyed, my fingers are dead, that's what I get for taking such a long break.**

 **I remind you to please give me time to get back into what I normally am, it's been so long since I could properly write.**

 **Next Chapter: Sunday, July 7th.**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	28. Chapter 26: The Headmaster

**I'm on time! Barely, but I did it.**

 **Quick heads up, I wrote this chapter from 11 at night until 4:30 in the morning, so I apologize if there is sloppy writing.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 26: The Headmaster**_

* * *

Ruby had decided to go in alone, those Grimm were not going to be useful in the vault, they were a lot more helpful by standing guard and making sure nobody followed her in.

She gracefully landed on her feet, eyes immediately scanning the area around her. The vault looked the same, it had the same long hallway, the same door at the end of the said hallway.

She cautiously stepped out of the elevator, half expecting an ambush, or any kind of resistance, really.

She was met by none.

She kept her Grimm Rose close as she walked, it could all be over in a minute, it had to be, there was no other option. The maiden would have to die, defenseless as she was, she was still considered a danger.

Or rather, it was the power within her that was considered a danger.

But why?

Her mind wandered to what Qrow had said. Why would Salem be hiding if she could just end the fight? She had no doubt her mother had a reason, and knowing her, it was probably a good one.

It must have been.

She was overthinking this. It was probably as simple as the alphabet, she'd just ask and all would turn out to be well.

Ruby shook her head to rid herself of the thoughts, damn that bastard Qrow, he learned a thing or two about manipulation from Ozpin, by the looks of it.

There was no need to ask, no need to doubt and no need to worry, Salem was absolute. Ruby's trust in her was beyond a limit, if she asks for something then it would be done, she simply owed her such.

It just so happened that what she wanted now was for the maiden to depart this world, she failed to grant that request once. She won't do it twice.

Especially after finding her own motivation. She had felt guilty before, she had felt like she betrayed Yang's trust.

She didn't realize that the feeling of being betrayed was far worse. If betraying someone was what felt like a knife to the gut, then being the one deceived felt like being stuck with the same knife after it was scorched by flames and coated with poison.

In short, not a pleasant feeling at all.

So, she had come to a conclusion, it wasn't that she was a good person, nor was it that she was a victim or unrightfully tricked.

It was far simpler.

They were just as bad.

They had been willing to go to the same extent as her to claim their victory, they had been willing to trick her just as she intended to trick them, they had been willing to brainwash the brains of countless a young generation, they had been willing to do things just as corrupt as she and her party were prepared to do.

In the end, it wasn't merely that Salem took the measures to the extreme. It was that Salem had to fight their extreme with her own extreme, it was a simple circle of actions that had taken her so long to realize yet after doing so it felt as if it was so simple that it rebuffed her that she couldn't notice it before.

After all, when an action is taken then it had a consequence, similar to the laws of force and resistance.

The harder you push, the harder that the world will push right back, you can't kill someone and expect to have a slap at on the wrist as punishment.

The door let out a click as she pushed through, entering the huge area that stored both the maiden and the machine she was in. It was just the way it was before, Ozpin clearly didn't have enough time to move such a huge machine without risking the maiden's stability, maybe it was the safer move to just keep her here.

Especially since he was guarding her himself.

Ruby looked at him, he had his back to her as he was facing the maiden. But he knew she was there, she didn't know how he knew, he just did. It was something about the way he held his body, he was cautious but not quite aggressive.

He was the same Ozpin as always.

...

The headmaster of Beacon academy stood in the room where everything would come to a climax, waiting for the inevitable, the girl would make it, she was determined to do so and there was no stopping it if even Qrow wasn't able to.

He remembered how he cringed as Qrow landed in front of him and Glynda, he had managed to find them before Ruby made it to the vault, he was gravely injured and warned Ozpin about the young girl's resourcefulness.

It was unfortunate that he was the last line of defense they had. He couldn't involve any Huntsmen that weren't a part of his inner circle and most professors of Beacon were busy limiting the spread of chaos resulted by the sudden cancelation of the initiation, Oobleck and Port included.

He had convinced Glynda to take Qrow to a hospital immediately, his wound was too great. He was a tough bastard, though, he'd make it.

He let out a sound that was a mix of both a sigh and some sort of apology, it could have ended much better than this, it really was not fair, right? It never really was.

"Miss Ruby," He spoke as he turned to face her. "I had asked you a question before, right in this very place," his eyes had an apologetic feel to them. "You've not answered it yet."

She eyed him carefully, there was nothing malicious in the way he approached her, it was odd to think that, but she was somehow sure of it.

"Why?" He spoke.

The question sounded so honest, no ill intentions, no tricks, no ulterior motives, just... why?

He had hoped she could at least answer this one question, this one question that he had for over a millennium, why? It had always nagged at him, why do people help Salem? What was their motive?

In all his years he had never met someone fit better to answer the question, a good soul that was unfortunately on the wrong side, one that could hopefully understand both points of view.

"I didn't know," she answered. "Or, at least, I only half knew at the time you asked me." She added.

"You sound like you do now."

"I do," She breathed. "At first, I thought it was because I was just supposed to."

He let her continue.

"She told me things, things about you. I still believe them fully." She admitted. "But there's more."

He stopped approaching just a few feet away from her. "And what may that be?"

"You're just a man, Ozpin." Her words felt like a punch to the gut. "She told me that you're a monster who only cares for destroying her."

"And do her words ring true?"

"To an extent."

"Not fully, then?"

"Do you worry about being a monster?"

His mouth opened to speak but he found no words, did he really care that much? Would he rather abandon his humanity to achieve his goal or keep it and keep struggling for eternity?

He came to a conclusion faster than he thought he would.

It seemed selfish for a second, but he didn't want to be a monster, he didn't want to lose himself to reach his ideal.

And he'd rather that Salem lives forever than lose what little of humanity was left in him. It was so selfish that he was disgusted with himself.

"I do, I do in fact worry, miss Ruby."

"Then you're human." She answered with no hesitation.

He couldn't help but let a smile form on his face, there was something about hearing that from an enemy, it meant more, in a sense, and it was far more reassuring than hearing it from an ally.

"You only become a monster when you stop worrying about remaining human," he said as his faint smile grew. "Is that what you mean?"

"Yes."

"I see, it pains me greatly that fate has chosen us to be on opposite sides, I understand now, you have your reason to fight."

"We aren't so different, I think. Just two people trying to reach their goal, the problem is that only one can reach it. When I broke out of that room you kept me in, I just wanted to hurt you, all of you. I wanted to do it so bad."

"And now?"

"Now I realize that I have no right to, I had been betrayed, yes, but I had also betrayed the same person that betrayed me first. I'm just as bad, if not worse."

"I see, so that's your conclusion. That we're all human, just with different goals?"

It was her conclusion, not a perfect one, maybe, but it was enough for her. "Yes, that's why I won't hold a grudge, I'll just finish what I came here for."

"You do realize I can't let you do just that?"

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

"For what it's worth, then, miss Ruby. I'm sorry."

Ruby did not reply as her right eye; now being fully Black except for the Silver Iris and her left eye, which was colored in the exact opposite, both shined faintly, the former with a Silver color and the latter with Red.

...

Victory was nigh impossible. It was a fact, in many ways.

Against Qrow, she had a chance, the fight could have gone either way and she had the element of surprise. He might have even underestimated her.

But not Ozpin, he was doing anything but that. His speed was unfathomable, she struggled to keep up with it even with the use of her semblance.

Every strike was struck with absolute precision and the perfect amount of force and it always continued, never giving her a breather as each hit was followed by one that completed a complex chain of attacks.

She was lucky her semblance had at least helped her block or dodge every strike so far, it wouldn't last for long, though, his combat technique was the closest thing to perfection, no wasted movement, just the correct range and perfect use of his joints. All practiced over the course of thousands of years.

There was no weakness. To beat a man like this you'd need either a miracle or raw and unfiltered power.

She tried to surprise him with a swing of her scythe from downwards to upwards, hoping that his combat awareness and vision weren't good enough to catch on before it's too late.

It was a false hope as he deflected it with practiced ease and disturbed her balance. He had also tried to disarm her with his cane but had luckily failed to do so, and upon realizing just that, he took the opportunity to at least land a hit on her, it grazed her shoulder.

Lucky, considering how precise he was, that could have easily been a clear hit, she couldn't give him another chance, he won't waste it again, she spun around with her scythe extended in a fury of dark rose petals, it was enough to drive him back for a moment, just enough for her to think.

Or so she thought, he was very much unlike anyone she ever fought, even Qrow.

This man, Ozpin, didn't think. He *Knew* what to do and when to do it, he'd had thousands upon thousands of battles before, most likely, combat strategy probably came to him as easy as breathing came to her.

She admittedly panicked, not expecting him to respond so instantly, she summoned an Ursa right in front of her, the poor beast was dead before it even realized it was alive.

But it had at least saved her from a direct hit to her already low Aura reserve.

She spun around with her scythe aiming high for Ozpin's head, she knew he'd notice it, she knew he'd block it.

But a sudden change of her weapon's shape might throw him off. She pushed a button and her weapon turned into a great sword, shorter but packing a lot more punch.

It collided with his cane and a cloud clang resonated throughout the vault, he blocked it, he saw it coming a mile away and adjusted his body into the perfect position to block it.

She wasted no time as she followed up with a kick towards his abdomen, hoping to surprise him.

Yet the man's experience was simply far too much for her to handle, he grabbed a hold of her leg and yanked hard, throwing her on the ground and separating her from Grimm Rose.

That parting did not last long, however, as she quickly used her semblance to get back to her weapon.

Ozpin had finally seemed to slow down, remaining in place as he eyed her carefully, it was terrifying, really, she didn't know if she should be glad that she's gotten a breather or worried about him looking as if he is not only studying her ability in combat but as if he was also examining her soul altogether.

She shook it off and took whatever precious seconds she had to think of a strategy, he was stronger, more experienced, extremely precise, accurately positioned at all times, somehow just as fast as her and...

She stopped counting upon realizing that the list likely has no end in sight.

Weaknesses, she needed to find one, just one would do, it would give her some sort of chance.

Agility! That was it!

He had always chosen to block instead of dodge, relying on his skill and technique more than his agility, he must have a reason to not be confident in it, it could be a weak point.

She switched her weapon into its one-handed sword form, she would need to be as fast as she could be.

Unlike their previous clash, this time, Ruby was the one to be on the offensive, shooting to rush towards him with a burst of her semblance, a stab towards the chest was aimed, he deflected it, just as she had expected.

She smoothly recovered and spun, feinting a slash from the right before following up with an actual one from the left, the headmaster still managed to block.

She had counted on it, she would keep his attention on one part of his body, -that being his upper body- and when he gets used to it she'd try to attack in a different area where he would hopefully be unable to block.

And she'd done just that, focusing his attention on defending her swings that were mostly directed towards his torso and head before suddenly utilizing her semblance to reach down and slash at his knee in the brink of a second, it would render him immobile for a moment and she could use it to get a few clean hits.

Yet her blade went right through his leg.

Or so it seemed at first, but in reality, he'd managed to move his leg out of the way so fast that it seemed to her as if it completely disappeared then reappeared again.

She didn't let it get the better of her as she focused as much Aura as she could to follow up on her attack, shooting dozens of stabs towards him within the same second.

He simply dodged all of them while still appearing as if he did not even move. It was baffling.

Ruby screeched as he suddenly jumped, spun mid-air and kicked her hard on the back of her head, she was tossed forward as a result and fell on the ground, rolling once or twice on it before quickly forcing herself back up.

Agility was not his weak point, not even close.

She winced as she felt an ache, he'd gotten a good and solid kick on her head.

She couldn't let this go on, he was far superior in every aspect and her Aura must be dangerously low.

They both knew who was going to come out on top if it kept on like this, she looked at his eyes.

There was no ounce of remorse or regret, he had not been holding back one bit and wasn't afraid to show it.

But there was also no look of hatred or anger, he was simply neutral, doing what he must to win the fight.

He kept that same expression as he sped towards her once more, she had tried to block but failed as his cane collided with her waist, she jumped back yet he followed suit, landing another hit on the same area before following with two consecutive kicks to maximize the damage.

She could already feel her stomach starting to ache at that. She tried to answer back with a swing of her own but he instantly brought his cane up to block, brushing against her swing with just enough force to re-direct it away before quickly elbowing her to the nose.

Naturally, her body jumped back on its own, he took the opportunity to jump upward and knee her to the chin, further increasing the damage, she had nearly fallen down as a result.

It followed by a strike to her thigh, causing her to stagger further before finally spinning and delivering a final blow to the side of her head.

Ruby could feel her Aura break as she was hurled through the air, getting separated from her weapon again and rolling on the ground for a good few seconds thanks to the strength of the strike.

It was very close to forcing her eyes to shut and her mind to go blank but it wasn't just there yet.

Everything was hazy but she could make out Ozpin's shape walking towards her as she lay defeated on the vault's floor, he was far too much and far too skilled, it was never a match.

She could somewhat feel the drops of blood running down her forehead, she tried to bring a hand up to feel it but couldn't, it felt like her whole body wasn't responding, she had finally just realized how exhausted she actually was.

She closed her eyes, they hurt enough as it was. It didn't take long for her to hear Ozpin crouch by her side, she couldn't quite make up what he was saying, the sound was just as hazy as her vision was before she closed her eyes.

She could make out a few words, something about apologizing, another about getting her to the nearest hospital.

Was she really that pathetic?

She had been defeated for the second time, too tired to even resist.

She had lost both of her friends thanks to betrayal.

She had failed to kill the maiden again.

This all wouldn't have happened if she had just killed her the first time, she wouldn't have had to go to Beacon, she wouldn't have disappointed her family and, most importantly, Salem.

Was she really about to fail Salem again? And after she gave her so much trust as well? That thought tortured her more than any else, Salem would feel betrayed by her, she would let her down again.

She couldn't let it happen.

She felt two hands sliding under her back and lift her up, Ozpin. He was the only thing standing in her way, just one man.

One man, it was baffling, she had made it through all of this just to lose to the last line of defense? It wasn't fair.

Anger took over her mind at the thought, this wasn't fair, not at all, not now, not after all of this, I won't let Salem down like that.

She could feel a similar tightness in her lungs, followed by a difficulty to draw in air, breathing became harder and harder and a sharp yet manageable pain found its way to her chest.

Her eyes started aching and her hands curled into fists before her eyes snapped open, revealing one color and one color only, black.

Both eyes had been robbed of any hint of a color other than black, she knew all these feelings too well, the tightness and impediment of breathing, yet this time around, it felt like she was in control, it felt so much more manageable.

Yet there was one feeling she could not suppress no matter how much she tried, the feeling of raw anger and desire to tear Ozpin into a million pieces as she looked at him.

She would not rob herself of her desire. She grinned as her hand suddenly shot up and grabbed a hold of Ozpin's throat.

She squeezed.

* * *

 **I sincerely hope you enjoyed, I'm so sleepy... this chapter was 3.5K words. I'm very sorry if the writing is sloppy in the last half of the chapter, I was so damn sleepy while writing it and re-checking the chapter for mistakes and the usual, I'll likely go over it again a day after I upload it and see if there is anything to fix, for now, though, I need to sleep.**

 **Next Chapter: Sunday, July 14th.**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


	29. Chapter 27: Unfamiliar Familiarities

**I'm very late, I know. Apologies, it looks like I'll have another extra month and a half of work thrown at my face. The good news is that it isn't as extreme as before so I'll still be able to update occasionally, and to make it even better, only three weeks of the month and a half are left, I'll precisely be free again on the 22nd, if anyone is wondering.**

 **So, I hope that explains why I didn't update, I am not getting bored of writing this story, far from it, actually, I'm raring to write more! I just suddenly got busy again. And this chapter is 4.4K words long.**

 **Note: I'll most likely go back to last chapter and edit Ruby's conversation with Ozpin, I was really sleepy when writing that and do not like how it turned out. Especially since I accidentally made Ruby look as if she doesn't even care about who she's fighting anymore.**

 **I hope you enjoy this new chapter!**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood**_

 _ **Chapter 27: Unfamiliar F** **amiliarities.**_

* * *

The headmaster of Beacon gasped for breath after dropping the little girl on the ground and quickly taking a few steps back. And it wasn't only the lack of air that got the better of him, it was also the pure amount of strength in the girl's grip around his throat.

He had thought he won, he had every reason to believe so, especially since her aura was broken. And so, he was to take her to Beacon's special hospital, where he could both survey her and make sure she did not receive any lasting injuries, after all, no matter what, she was still just a teenage girl.

Admittedly, the word hospital was a bit too generous, it was more of an emergency clinic with a few beds than anything else but at least it would have still done the trick. All that didn't matter anymore, though.

The girl's eyes seemed to change color once more, taking a very pure shade of Black.

She stood up as if all the beating she had just received was already long forgotten. Frustrating, so very frustrating.

"Look at what she's done to you..." The headmaster spoke, her Black eyes drawing all of his attention, they were inhumane, monstrous.

The girl remained silent, slowly picking up her scythe from the ground.

"Are you okay with it? Don't you see what you're slowly turning into?!" He snapped.

She did not speak.

"Answer me!"

A grin formed on the little girl's face. "Weren't you?" The grin widened.

"W-what?"

"I said. Weren't you?"

"What are you talking about...?"

"You told me that you cared little for how I looked, would it matter now... dear Ozpin?"

His eyes widened and his heart nearly stopped. That way of speaking...

He staggered back. "No, there is no way." He seemed to be heaving the words out, he then harshly gripped his cane. "Salem."

"It's been long, Ozpin, far too long."

Her voice hadn't changed one bit, nor was the way she looked at him, he could see it clearly, through the eyes of the little girl.

They weren't Ruby's eyes anymore.

"You could never disappear for too long, Salem." He spoke through gritted teeth.

"You despise me to such an extent?"

"You're no longer the person you once were, I do not despise how you look, and you know that well. Nor who you once were " He glared at her. "I despise what you've become."

"What I've become?" She asked, almost nonchalantly. "Am I no longer human in your eyes?"

"You've long surpassed what I would even consider being a monster." He drew his cane.

"My my, dear Ozpin, your words are like poison." She smiled. "I'd say they hurt me. But we both know that would be a lie."

"Enough talk. I won't let you have what you've come here for, not over my dead body."

She laughed in a ridiculing manner. "Of course, since dying means so little to you in any case, doesn't it?"

There was no warning, no signs, and no hesitation, the headmaster chose to suddenly attack, quickly dashing towards her.

She did not look surprised at how fast he covered the distance between them, he was right before her before she knew it, weapon already about to slam into her head, it would be a clean strike that gave him an early advantage.

Yet instead of hearing the sound of said weapon slam against flesh and bone, he heard nothing.

And he also felt nothing, his eyes widened as his strike went right through her and her body turned to ash, as if it was never there.

Only now did Ozpin notice the unusual tingly feeling on his neck.

He brought a hand up to feel it, he was shocked at the sight of what came down with it.

So small, barely the size of a fingernail, it had a stinger that was covered with some sort of liquid.

But there was no mistaking it, it was a creature of Grimm.

"No..." Was all he could mutter. A hallucination? If that wasn't real, if it was a trick, then...

He turned around, already dreading the thought.

What he saw was the girl, her weapon in hand and aiming at the unconscious maiden.

"Ruby, please, calm down for everyone's sake."

She set her finger on the trigger.

"Think before you act, Ruby! If you pull that trigger, there is no going back, let me-"

Glass shattered and blood-covered shards fell to the ground as the echo of the bullet cut off his words. The ancient maiden powers raced to find their other half before Ruby was engulfed by a cloak of dark rose petals. It was time for her to leave.

...

A warm gush of wind found its way to the little girl, her hair swayed as she was struck with a kind feeling of nostalgia.

Everything was so different here, she had almost forgotten that. Even the air was different in its way, especially here in the forest. She still couldn't quite believe she was here herself, but here she was, in the forest, what would follow would be the Grimmlands, then the castle itself.

The forest had always been her favorite place, it admittedly didn't have a vast variety of wildlife but it was still charming in its own way, even with the great number of Grimm that infested it, perhaps that was a line of defense of some sort?

The Grimmlands, however, needed no explanation, the name gave away all the information one would need to know. It would take a truly hardened Huntsman to hope to survive in such a place for even a few minutes, it was full to the brink with Grimm, more so than anywhere else on Remnant.

Had it really been nine months? It felt less like that and a lot more like a small eternity of some sorts.

Ruby kept on walking, colored leaves crunched under her boots with every step and the trees around her proved to be adopting a warm color, Fall was just around the corner.

She could still appreciate the beauty of the forest even as she walked whilst favoring one leg over the other and a with a hand wrapped around her stomach, that bastard Qrow really did cause her to break a bone, and it seemed like it was not going to heal for a while, thanks for nothing, aura.

But she wouldn't even start on how her body felt thanks to her fight with Ozpin, it was as if every single inch of her body was barely kept intact. As if it all could simply crumble down with a simple poke.

A few days of groaning in bed were inevitable.

But for now, she would keep on walking, barely dragging Grimm Rose with her as she did so. "Damn it, why are you so heavy all of a sudden." She whispered her complaint. Admittedly, she was barely supporting her own body, so it wasn't a surprise her weapon felt heavy.

Moreover, Grimm Rose was arguably in just as bad of shape as its owner, having the tip of its blade broken and numerous scratches, that was bad, she needs to get it fixed.

She must have been getting closer to the edge of the forest, though, and she could make out a few landmarks she remembered vividly to confirm that, however, as she was scanning to make sure of that, she had found something far more interesting.

In the distance, a figure stood, Green clothes, a giant body, Brown hair. There was no mistaking it. For a moment, the young girl forgot all about her injuries and raced towards the figure.

It had always been a thing of his to stay in the forest, he was one to enjoy the simplicity of solitude when he found a chance to do so, and to an extent, he also appreciated nature.

Ruby stood a few feet behind the figure, that's when she opened her mouth to speak, however, that's also when she discovered one crucial thing she hadn't put to account. What on Remnant was she going to say?

And it even seemed as if he had heard her approaching, he turned around with a sigh. "Tyrian, I've explained that I want to be alone, why-"

Eyes widened, both his and hers, silence followed the shock.

"Ruby?" He finally managed to say.

"Hi... I'm back."

Gods damn it all! Why was this so awkward?!

After a moment's thought, she finally realized that Hazel might not have been the best person to run into first, the giant was a complicated man with little things you could naturally speak to him about. "I- I'm-"

She was interrupted, not by words, but by arms wrapping around her in a hug.

And it suddenly felt a lot less awkward, unlike one would expect, Hazel's embrace wasn't a crushing one, but more warm and cozy. Sure, it did feel like you were surrounded by a sea, but it was a sea of protection, in a way.

And with how tired she was, she had to physically restrain herself from just giving up on standing altogether and letting herself melt into his arms.

After what felt like a pretty long moment, he finally let go, smiling at Ruby. It didn't take long for him to spot her injuries, though, and the fact that her weapon was broken in places and that her outfit had seen better days. "You are gravely injured."

"Yeah, kinda. But I'm in one piece, that's what matters, right?" She let a quirky smile form on her face. "I'm not gonna lie, it hurts as bad as it looks, but I'll be okay, I think."

Hazel was beyond distraught at her words, but as the man he was, he knew better than to take her taste of victory away from her by showing his disapproval of her state now, she needed to be praised, if anything, even if he did not appreciate that fact one bit.

However, there was one more thing he noticed. "Your eyes..." He said slowly, they hadn't been like that before, the colors were not so extreme, now, however, one eye was completely Black without a hint of any other color whilst the other was her normal Silver eye, a bit more shiny than before, though.

"I don't know exactly... but it's a good thing, I promise!" She explained before he would ask questions she did not have the answers to.

He smiled, not wanting to be a burden on the already exhausted girl. "I am very proud of you, child. And I'm sure everyone else will be, too." What he said was true, but it wasn't all of it, he was also still very much appalled by the fact that they had left the girl unprotected right in Ozpin's palm. He was very happy that she proved capable of escaping his grasp, though, as that was no easy feat.

"Is everyone here, though?" She asked, it was not an uncommon thing for one of them to be out on a mission, in fact, it was far more common than everyone being there at the same time.

Hazel took a moment, looking as if he was trying to remember, he then spoke. "I do not know, the last time I've seen Cinder was three days ago. We'd best head to the castle nonetheless."

"Yeah, that would be ni- Woah!" She gasped as he suddenly hoisted her up on his shoulder, it was surprising, to say the least, as she was no small girl anymore, she hadn't expected it one bit.

"You didn't think I'd let you walk with wounds like that, did you?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No, no! Please let me down!" That was far from how she expected her return to the castle to go, she did not look forward to greeting everyone whilst sitting on Hazel's shoulder.

He seemed to understand, though, and let out a slight chuckle. "Do not fret, I will let you down before anyone can see us."

"Promise?" She pouted, already dreading how embarrassing it would be to turn up to the castle in such a way.

"Heh, I promise."

...

Hazel was fast for a big guy, or he just took really big steps, but thanks to that, she found that they were out of the forest before she knew it.

"Am I really not bothering you like this?"

"You're as light as a feather."

"Hey, I'm not a kid anymore, you know!" She said out of nowhere, perhaps taking his words as an insult to her strength or such.

"That's what every child your age says."

"I-" She crossed her arms angrily as she sat on the man's shoulder. "Shut up, I'm already fifteen."

"That does not do much to help your case." He chuckled after saying so.

"Whatever, old man." She smiled.

"What you say is true, I am old."

Ruby could only mentally sigh, she could never get under this guy's skin, even now.

"Are you well enough to walk?" He asked. The castle appeared after they passed a few rocky hills.

It was so ridiculously big, only now did Ruby realize that.

At a younger age, she thought it was normal. That thought must have come from her lack of any real contact with the outside world.

But of course, she wasn't isolated, she frequently went out with a guardian, or even Neo at times.

She briefly wondered if Neo remembered her or not, she was never really the friendly type, which was fairly weird considering that she radiates fun.

There was also the fact that Ruby's freedom to navigate and explore by herself grew alongside her, being eventually allowed to go places by herself if she was careful.

But it was after spending nine months living with Yang that she realized just how big the world was, and how big her home was compared to many.

Tai was a good father, she'd admit that. He was always going out on trips with both her and Yang when she was there.

He had her explore almost everything there was to see in Vale.

"I can walk." She finally answered.

"Down you go, then." He set her down carefully on her feet.

Ruby promptly thanked him before they continued walking together.

The Grimmlands were not as big as the forest, not in the slightest, and they found themselves before the castle gates quite fast.

Ruby took a deep breath and pushed it open.

It was all just like she remembered, even all the minor details. She also spotted a certain faunus in the distance.

"I'll leave you to greet everyone. Unless your legs are starting to feel heavy?"

"I'll be fine!" She responded with haste.

Hazel laughed and took his leave whilst Ruby walked towards Tyrian.

"Hello!" He said before she even reached him.

"Hello, Tyr-"

"Hello!" He repeated with a smile.

Ruby just shook it off. "Hello, Ty-"

"Hello!"

"I- uh..." She finally reached him.

"I'm sorry, you see, you've been gone for so long that one greeting would never be enough!" He paused to wipe what was an imaginary tear away. "Yes, yes, for far too long."

"I'm sorry...?"

"Oh no, no, no. You mustn't!" He put a hand over his mouth. "You were gone doing our queen's bidding. It is a great honor! To apologize for doing so would be a great insult, yes, it would be a great insult indeed!"

Ruby just gave up altogether and sighed. "I was really hoping you develop a sanity while I was gone."

"Worry not about me, I've taken enough of your time, you mustn't keep the goddess waiting! Off you go, come on! Our conversation comes second, the queen comes first!" He started pushing her to the direction of the hallway.

Ruby just let him do so until he left her in said hallway, Salem's quarters were at the end. "It was good to see you again, Tyrian." She managed to say, yet the man was gone before she knew it, she hoped he heard her, at the very least.

Before her mother's quarters, however, was Cinder's room and even Watts' laboratory, lucky for her, might as well greet them on the way.

Watts first, as he was closer, but what on earth is she gonna say?

Watts was no jerk... well, actually, he kind of was, but he wasn't with her. Excluding when she disappoints him, that is.

But she didn't do so! She made it back in one piece, that's gotta count for something. Plus, her mission was a success, an unexpected one at that. She was no fool, she knew her chances were slim at best but still decided to take them, it's a miracle they even let her go to begin with, honestly.

She was before his lab before she knew it, no progress on what to say, too. God damn everything.

Ruby sighed, she'd been damning everything in her thoughts for a while now, she needs to stop that.

kinda hard when everything that comes her way seems to be attached with trouble, maybe it was her turn to be the universe's laughing stock today?

Damn you, universe!

She gave herself a slap on the forehead for that. Didn't she just promise herself to stop cursing everything?

"I'm going crazy." She said as she knocked on the damned door to get this over with.

Oh shit, it happened again.

...

Watts was annoyed, very much so, does no one ever respect the fact that he's working to make their goals easier to achieve? If this turned out to be Tyrian just trying to annoy him again then he'd have a few words for him.

"What is it now?" He said, not hiding his annoyance at all, he also could not hide his confusion as he saw no one.

Until he looked down. There was one Ruby, still as short as ever. His keen eye could scan her in just that one glance, she wasn't standing normally, and it wasn't because of the tiredness, it looked like she was incapable of actually standing normally, a broken bone, perhaps?

Her outfit had undoubtedly seen better days, tatters covered most of the sleeves and her cape was half-ripped, and terrifyingly enough, there was a hole in the stomach area, someone had tried to stab her but her aura protected her, most likely. Lastly, she looked to be favoring a leg over the other.

But she was alive, that's good. Actually, that was great, considering who she was up against.

And irritatingly enough, it felt good to see her again. She also looked too worn out for him to tease her, a shame, really, since he wasn't about to welcome her warmly, he would never do such a thin-

And then she hugged him.

Brat.

Watts reluctantly returned the hug with one hand, maybe, just maybe, he could let it slide this time. He tried to convince his own mind to do just that, 'She deserves it.' He told himself.

He mentally thanked the gods when it was over, only now realizing just how embarrassing it was. Still, he managed to give his classic smug smile as he spoke. "You've definitely seen better days."

Ruby smiled, she immediately knew he was happy to see her when he spoke like that. There was a reason that she knew so, and it was quite simple, she knew Watts very well.

It might be because of the hours and hours she spent with him, he tutored her and taught her almost everything she knows that doesn't involve combat.

And behind his mask, Watts was a fairly simple man.

"How are you, Watts?" She asked, trying her best to sound polite, he liked it when people were polite.

Sadly, he never practiced what he preached. "Better than you, that, I know." His smile widened. However, it didn't take long for it to disappear. "But in all seriousness, you couldn't bring yourself to be more careful?" He said. "We'll have to put you on a recovery program soon, and by 'We' I mean 'I' since no one else knows a damn thing about medicine here other than me."

"What am I hearing? It almost sounds like concern!" The girl said, taking her opportunity.

"Brat." He said with his smug smile following once more. "I will see to it that you get back to top shape, but an important matter must be dealt with first, you must see Salem, she must feel rather peeved, knowing that you're in the castle yet taking so long to come to her."

He was probably right, Ruby thought. "I'll go see her right after I greet Cinder." She replied.

"There will be no need for that, she's not here."

Ruby raised her eyebrow and could almost feel the disappointment flood her thoughts. "Then where is she?"

"Out on an errand." He replied. "Though with the powers she must have received through your success, I believe she might find herself coming back earlier than expected. Strength and power tend to simplify things, after all." He rubbed his chin as he said so.

He was probably right, Ruby thought. It might confuse Cinder at first, but she'd most likely use the powers to her advantage immediately, making whatever she was doing easier. She'd just have to trust her to come back soon. But, for now, she excused herself before taking her leave, only one person in the castle left to greet.

...

Three consecutive knocks echoed throughout the halls.

And then the door slid open. Ruby's mind started playing out all the scenarios that could occur, she mentally thanked the gods that none of those scenarios involved failure, as she had returned victorious.

Ruby stepped in, trying not to show any sign of hesitation or nervousness. She had wondered what she would feel when she sees Salem for the first time in so long. Would it be fear? It was admittedly possible but never made sense, she was never scared of Salem before, why would she need to be now?

And so her mind jumped to her just being purely nervous, that was also very possible, but then again, what was to be nervous about? She had come back with nothing but success.

She closed the door behind her and turned.

And then she realized how much she overthought about everything.

All it took was a quick glance, just enough to confirm who it was for it to completely prove that there was nothing to worry about.

Salem sat on the edge of her bed, her red eyes fixed on Ruby, a look which Ruby couldn't help but return. There was no fear, no nervousness, nothing unnatural, all she could feel was that she had finally been reunited with someone she had sorely missed. There was nothing but warmth and it drove her to almost forget that she was on a mission altogether, she was just happy to see her mother.

"Child, come." Ruby could almost physically feel her nerves loosen, it has been far too long since she heard Salem's voice. She found herself complying without even thinking as Salem patted the bed, indicating for Ruby to sit next to her.

She eagerly did so, Salem kept her smile all the way until Ruby was alongside her. The smile of the Grimm Queen might have been unnerving or even frightening to some, but to Ruby, it was just everything she'd hoped to see.

The young girl fought back the urge to wrap her arms around Salem as hard as she can, she decided to get everything important out of the way first so she can come to enjoy the moment. "The mission was-"

A swift interjection saw Ruby's sentence fall apart. "Silence yourself, child," Salem spoke before her smile widened. "Anything about your mission can wait." She added.

Ruby then felt Salem's arm calmly wrap around her shoulder. She looked at Salem, almost in disbelief, Salem had never hugged her before without Ruby being the one to ask for it.

The queen couldn't help but chuckle. "I already know you were successful, that's enough to satisfy me for now. Meanwhile, however, you stay still." She said, voice as warm as the embrace she and Ruby shared. "Speak your mind, child, I will not have you hold your feelings now."

Ruby nodded weakly. She didn't have to think about what she wanted to say, it came as naturally as breathing. Saying it, though, was another matter, she couldn't bring herself to do so, opening her mouth multiple times but then failing to speak the words.

Luckily, Salem knew what the words would be, she did not know how, but she did. And if Ruby couldn't bring herself to say them, she would make it easier. Grimm Queen she may be, monster she definitely is, but that doesn't mean that she wasn't once a mother. "I've missed you, Ruby." She said.

Ruby wiped her eyes with her sleeve as she set her head on Salem's shoulder and let herself melt into her mother's embrace. "I missed you too."

* * *

 **Before I forget, I guess I could just explain this here since I reckon that some people are still unable to figure out exactly what Ruby's eyes look like, well, I'll make it clear here once and for all. Ruby's RIGHT eye is completely BLACK, no other colors are present whatsoever, her LEFT eye is her normal Silver eye, just like the actual show, only a bit more bright.**

 **And to make it clear, both her eyes did not actually change to pure Black when fighting Ozpin, that was just a hallucination from the poison of a Grimm she stuck in his throat, and so was his conversation with Salem.**

 **I'd also like to humbly ask for no one to panic if I take a while to update, stuff happens, it's life. The story will NEVER be cancelled without an ending.**

 **Except if I die or something.**

 **But do you know what you can do to prevent that? Review! I feed on reviews, it's all the nourishment I ever need! *Wink***

 ** _Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!_**


	30. Chapter 28: Back Home

**Is this a filler chapter? Probably.**

 **Is it a good filler chapter? I certainly hope so!**

 **3.3K words, please enjoy! Next chapter is gonna be a lot longer, I believe.**

 ** _Little Grimm Riding Hood_**

 ** _Chapter 28: Back Home_**

* * *

It had been a long few months, with Ruby finding herself in a state of healing for the majority of that time. But thankfully, there was nothing to be overly concerned about. Her wounds healed before the first month passed.

It was a nasty process. Watts warned her about all of it, how she might not be feeling too much pain the day she came in but would feel it soon. She didn't believe him at first. How could she? She was already in extreme discomfort and couldn't even imagine the pain getting worse.

But she came to understand soon after, it wasn't only the fact that she had a fractured bone that caused the pain. The worse came because of the healing.

Who knew that your own aura physically mending and stretching your bones back in place would hurt so badly?

And it wasn't like when aura healed a cut, if that were the case, it would be done in a second. This, however, was much, much more serious. Aura wouldn't just snap your bones back in place like that, nor would it heal a fracture in them with such speed, it was a much slower process.

Slowly but surely. Or, in her case, slowly but excruciatingly painful.

It mostly happened at night, too, when she laid in bed and tried to sleep, if it wasn't so painful she could have been fascinated by how aura chooses to deal with different types of wounds. It was like it had a mind of its own.

But it would still lead to multiple screaming fits at night. Sometimes the pain was just too much for her to handle.

However, it wasn't all bad. Cinder had arrived two days after Ruby, their reunion had every chance to not go well, with Cinder likely still getting used to her powers and struggling to control them, any accident could have occurred.

But nothing did.

If Salem being pleased with Ruby wasn't enough to satisfy the young girl, if it didn't make those nine months out on her mission seem worth it, then seeing Cinder have the power she deserves did so. She was so happy seeing that she had done something for Cinder for once.

But now she almost regretted it.

Cinder might have been a friend, mentor, even sister, but she was still Cinder.

And Cinder loves to play with her prey from time to time. Sadly for Ruby, she was the prey this time around.

"No Maiden powers!" Ruby cried as she dodged the incoming whirlwind of air Cinder shot her way.

"Your enemies will always use their full arsenal of weapons and tricks to take you down, you must always be prepared to face that." Cinder explained as she gave Ruby an apologetic smile.

Stupid Cinder and her stupid fake smiles and her stupid lessons that always make too much sense! She was definitely enjoying this!

Ruby managed to dodge another incoming wave of wind, this time, she wasted no time to initiate a counter, using a burst of her semblance to close in the space between her and Cinder. Her weapon in hand and suitably in spear form, she prepared to overwhelm her opponent with both reach and speed.

But a huge slam followed by her own cape seemingly refusing to follow her resulted in her choking for a split second.

She looked back and shockingly found a whole tree impaling her cape to the ground. She turned back to Cinder who just looked like she had done the most casual thing ever.

 _Yeah, keep smiling, it's not like you tossed a freaking tree at me or anything!_

"I always told you that capes will get in the way." Said the newly-found Fall maiden.

Ruby sighed as she brought her hand up to her collar and unhooked the cape.

Maybe it was time for a style change?

However... "Maybe, but put in mind that I don't usually run into people with elemental powers. Only you could do something like this."

Cinder understood Ruby's logic, and whilst it was mostly true when fighting humans, she still needed to warn her young disciple regarding her way of thinking.

"That may be true in most cases, but never, ever, underestimate people's resourcefulness, Ruby, or that will come back to bite you."

Ruby took note of Cinder's words and nodded, a competitive smile appeared on each of their faces before they both dashed back into the fray, both determined to win. Not caring for how much time they spent training, they ended up going at it for the better part of the afternoon.

"And done, that's eight for me and two for you." Cinder said as her swords slowly disintegrated away.

A panting Ruby dropped to sit on a log, leaving her weapon beside her. "But I won both rounds you didn't use your powers in." Ruby remarked with a challenging smile, indirectly telling Cinder that she would match her in normal circumstances.

Cinder dropped next to her. "You are a resourceful one, I admit."

"I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Cinder looked at her and couldn't do anything but notice the challenge coming from Ruby's determined eyes.

"Is that a request for a rematch that I'm hearing?"

"One more round wouldn't hurt." Ruby answered.

Cinder pushed herself up. "Alright, show me your so-called tricks."

The two of them were face to face in a duel again before they knew it.

Ruby did not take long to notice how her mentor was keeping herself from using her powers, maybe she was trying to prove a point?

The younger one wouldn't complain, though, as this definitely made life easier for her.

With her cape now gone, Ruby noticed how it was much easier to move, especially when it came to her arms.

There was absolutely nothing to get in her way when moving, nor was there need for her to worry about her cape being grabbed or anything of the like. It simply gave her more freedom.

And with such freedom, she found herself even faster than usual, managing to maintain the upper hand when it came to the duel, Cinder had almost no time to react and let alone strike back.

And Ruby had gotten incredibly skilled, wasted movement was kept to a bare minimum, she stayed just far away enough to render Cinder's weapons useless.

A smooth strike towards Cinder's shoulder forced her to block, followed by an arguably smoother process of Grimm Rose transitioning from a spear to scythe. It wasn't completely surprising but the sudden change still made it harder to defend.

Ruby poked the back end of her scythe forward, hitting Cinder in the knee, she followed by jumping high up, stepping on Cinder's shoulder and pushing herself up in the air as Cinder concurrently fell flat on her back.

Mid-air, Ruby changed her weapon into the long-sword form, quickly grabbed the handle with both hands and used her semblance to slam hard into the ground, blade pointed at Cinder.

Expectedly, Cinder rolled away just in time.

Unexpectedly, though, Ruby found herself unable to pull her weapon from the ground.

And Cinder just laughed.

Stupid! She should have known this would happen, Cinder would never have let her have such an opening to hit her knee without meaning it. She knew the end result would be like this.

Ruby mentally cursed as Cinder dashed towards her, she let go of her weapon to barely dodge in time. She then took hold of it again before taking a deep breath and pulling with all her might.

It finally came free, sadly, it was just in time for her to barely see Cinder closing in again.

Whilst she managed to block in time, it was very sloppy, Cinder's swords easily broke her guard and grazed her hand. Ruby tried to step back and give herself space but Cinder stubbornly followed, knowing she had the upper hand.

What followed was a series of blows that Ruby only just managed to block or dodge, Cinder was never letting up, and Ruby would never be able to recover thanks to Cinder knowing all her tricks.

She needed something new, something Cinder didn't know about yet.

A smile formed on the young girl's face as she locked her gaze with Cinder. As the Maiden prepared to swing her sword, Ruby took her chance.

Her right eye sparkled and her left eye shined, the darkness of Grimm mixed with the light of her Silver eye emerged as a completely different color, too complicated to describe yet simple enough to imagine.

Cinder was startled as a result and even hesitated to complete her attack, undoubtedly thinking this was some sort of new power Ruby had discovered.

Her disciple took the chance and easily swept her off her feet with a swift yet strong kick.

And so she fell, the only thing keeping her from lying flat on her back was the support of her elbows as they pressed against the ground.

She looked up to see Ruby's weapon aimed at her face, in sniper form.

"I win." Ruby said, triumphant.

Cinder made a mental note to ask about... well, whatever on Remnant that was. And despite it being impressive, Cinder does not allow herself to lose that easily.

"Think again." She pointed up with a smile.

Ruby's eyes flickered to see what Cinder meant and soon realized that dozens of glass shards were hovering right above her head, ready to fly towards her.

She looked down at Cinder before switching back to the shards and sighing. "Damn it." She said, seemingly accepting the result.

"Let's settle for a draw, shall we?"

Ruby opened her mouth to speak, yet found a familiar voice beating her to doing so.

"Fascinating." Said voice muttered.

"Salem!" Cinder said as she quickly pushed herself off the ground.

"You two know each other's style exceptionally well, don't you?" She said, walking towards the two.

Ruby found herself smiling at that. "I think we just train a lot together."

Salem smiled as she stopped beside Ruby and set a hand on her shoulder. "You've become a truly magnificent fighter, Ruby."

Ruby smiled and looked at Cinder. "Well, I trained with the best!"

Salem then switched her eyes to Cinder.

Ar first, it nearly gave the Maiden chills, but she quickly relaxed when the gaze turned from one of curiosity to one of approval.

"You are right, child. Cinder, I wish to congratulate you on a job well done, you've outdone yourself over the years."

Cinder quickly bowed. "I am flattered, ma'am, thank you."

Salem simply nodded in response before slowly walking past the two, they stayed in place, thinking that she may be simply leaving, but she soon motioned for them to follow.

Not wanting to keep her waiting, they both did so.

"Ruby, do you feel fully recovered?" Asked the Grimm Queen.

The girl did not take long to reply. "Yes, back to my best."

Salem kept silently walking through the woods, the two behind her following in turn, she finally spoke to break the silence, though.

"We've found another Maiden." The queen worded, she did not take long to add. "She is taking refuge in Mistral."

The words nearly brought the two behind her to a halt, that was big news, to say the least.

"Who is it?" Ruby asked, failing to contain her curiosity.

"Spring. And although we do not know her exact whereabouts, we may know someone who does. I presume you are familiar with the woman named Raven Branwen?"

Cinder replied with a "Yes." As they continued walking in the forest.

"She may point you in the right direction if you manage to convince her, we have reasons to believe that the spring Maiden went to her for help when she ran away. Though an individual like Raven would likely turn her away, knowing full well about the dangers she brings with her."

"And where can I find Raven?" Cinder asked.

"It will be your responsibility to discover that." Salem said before slowing down and then completely stopping. "And you won't be alone, Cinder. Ruby will accompany you."

"Yes!" The young girl practically yelled. She then noticed the other two stare at her and couldn't help but suddenly blush. "I mean. Yes, Salem, as you wish." She said, doing her best to sound elegant.

Cinder failed to hold in her amusement and let out a faint laugh. Salem simply smiled at Ruby, approving of the eagerness.

"You will both leave in three days, I advise that you prepare yourself."

Cinder could not help but raise an eyebrow, it wasn't unusual of them to have some time to make preparations before departing on a mission, in fact, they'd be fools to go anywhere unprepared. But three days? Salem was never so generous as to give them so much time.

Her eyes glissened past the still-smiling Ruby and her thoughts quickly caught up, the reason was as clear as day.

"We will see to it that your will is done, ma'am," Cinder spoke. "But what are we to do with the Maiden once we find her?"

"I've promised you the powers of the Spring Maiden, too, have I not?" Salem said, she evidently did not require an answer and continued on. "You may claim what is yours, Cinder, but that is only in the case of a suitable opportunity, I trust your judgement enough to know that you will be cautious."

Cinder nodded, Salem was not wrong, Cinder would unhesitatingly take the power that she deserves if an opportunity presented itself, yet she would also not risk the whole mission's outcome on it, finding the Maiden was a good enough outcome, it also meant that she could attack her later, when the time was right.

"Ruby," Salem spoke, snapping Cinder out of her thoughts. She looked at Ruby only to see that the young girl had been rigorously listening to the two of them all along.

"Yes?" The young one replied.

"I shall be waiting for you tomorrow morning, do not dally, now."

Ruby smiled, "yes, Salem, I won't."

Nodding in approval, Salem disappeared into the woods.

...

Ruby collapsed on her bed, sighing in satisfaction after spending the afternoon training hard, there was no better feeling than knowing how far she's come thanks to Cinder's training and her own sweat and tears, quite literally, too. Well, minus the tears part.

It was indeed the best feeling ever... excluding the feeling of the soft pillow she just stuffed her face into, seriously, was it only her or do beds get better every time you lay down on them?

Agh, it was all so unfair! She wanted nothing but to spend the rest of the evening in bed but knew she had to run Grimm Rose by Watts so he can perform a check-up on the weapon, she was sure it was back to top shape but sadly, Watts was a paranoid man when it came to his work.

"You're not even trying to hide that you're exhausted." Cinder said, amused as she closed the door behind her. Ruby had forgotten that she followed her into the room.

"Can you take Grimm Rose to Watts, please?" Ruby said, shifting on her bed so she would be sitting on it and concurrently doing her best to bring her puppy-eyes to life, it wasn't easy when she'd been viciously fighting all day, though.

"You know there's no chance I'll go close to that man if I can help it." Cinder remarked, irritation of the mere thought of going to Watt's laboratory already seeping into her mind. "I cannot handle that man's sass." She added.

Ruby sighed, well, at least it was worth a try. She never knew why exactly but there's always been this not-so-secret rivalry between those two.

"You forgot this." Cinder spoke once more, throwing a piece of fabric to young Ruby, she caught it easily, examined it, and saw that it was her cape, only, now it had a huge tear in the middle thanks to a certain Cinder Fall.

Ruby sighed and threw it next to her on her bed. "I don't think I can wear the same clothes to Mistral anyway," she stated before dropping to lie her head on the pillow again.

Cinder nodded. Ozpin knew what Ruby looked like, he knew how she had differently-colored eyes, he knows about her White outfit, he knows about Grimm Rose. And although she doubted he himself had capabilities to directly survey Mistral, she had no doubts on him having someone there to keep an eye out on things for him, and if that was the case, someone would be looking out for a person with Ruby's description.

"I think it's wise to change up a little bit, just to be safe."

Ruby nodded, she had already decided on wearing a different color for a change, something dark, maybe? She wasn't sure yet. She did, however, know that she would also need a new paint-job for her weapon, and maybe even a new hairstyle for herself just to make sure.

The day was still far from over and Ruby did indeed feel like she could accomplish quite a few things in the remaining time. She begrudgingly forced herself off her bed, taking Grimm Rose, a quick goodbye to Cinder and she was on her way to Watts, the question was, what color should Grimm Rose be?

She thought about it more as she walked through the hallway, perhaps Yellow and- no, too bright. Maybe all Black? Also no, too edgy.

She'd made no progress by the time she was in front of Watts's quarters. She knocked on the door, finding herself in a dead end when it came to colors, maybe a suggestion would help?

A few seconds passed and Ruby could hear Watts fidgeting with his locks before the door creaked open, just enough for him to see through the side, she waved sheepishly at him. "Hello."

He sighed. "It's just you." He said, opening the door wider.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Y'know keyholes are there for a reason, right? You could have looked through it instead of opening the door first."

"Young girl, I know what a keyhole is."

"Then why not-"

"It's booby trapped."

Ruby stayed silent for a while as her stare shifted between Watts and his door. "I'm not even gonna ask."

"Great, that saves us a lot of time. Now, where is your weapon?"

Complying, Ruby handed him her baby. "So, Watts, what's your favorite color?"

He looked at her, puzzled by the cause of the random question. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Well, I want a new paint-job for Grimm Rose but I can't decide on any color. I want suggestions!"

"Of course you do." He brought a hand up to his face. "Sadly, my suggestion would not be of help to you."

Ruby noted his hesitation. "Just tell me!"

Pink. "Purple."

Ruby's eyes widened in realization, already imagining Grimm Rose colored Purple and Black, how could she not think of it? It looked so cool!

"Yes, Purple and Black!" She practically ordered.

"Fine, now please-"

"Alright alright, I'll leave you alone!"

* * *

 **I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, I know it wasn't very eventful except for revealing where the story is going next, I've always wanted to write Ruby and Cinder together more, I don't know why but I love how their relationship turned out in this story. Even if that was just dumb-luck, as was most things that happened early-on in the story, to be honest.**

 **Some of my time will be taken away to write my newer story, _Memories Of A Future_ , my very own RWBY time travel fic. It's done better in terms of the debut chapter than any of my other stories, already nearing 100 followers, check it out!**

 **Shameless self-promotion aside though, I'll still update Little Grimm Riding Hood every week.**

 **Next chapter marks the end of what I consider to be the first arc of this story, three more to come after that, though, so worry not, we still have around a hundred chapters to go.**

 **Please review, reviews are what keeps us going!**

 ** _Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!_**


	31. Chapter 29: A Matter of Perspective

**Chapter is a bit on the shorter side, sorry about that, and for the long wait. You know how it is with unreliable people like me. I think I'll get back into weekly updates quite soon, maybe even next week.**

 **I hope you enjoy this 2.5K words chapter.**

 _ **Little Grimm Riding Hood.**_

 _ **Chapter 29: A Matter of Perspective.**_

* * *

"I am sorry, Miss Xiao-Long, but there is still no news."

As usual, he said the same words, just in a different way. Yang wondered when he's going to run out of ways to do that, it didn't look or seem to be any time soon, that's all she knew.

"Then maybe you aren't looking hard enough." She replied, although she knew that he probably was doing his best, she also knew he wasn't doing it for her. There was no way he was looking for Ruby without having some sort of motive of his own.

"Yang, I understand that you are frustrated, and you have every right to be, but please do understand that Vale is a big place, we are looking for a needle in a haystack." Headmaster Ozpin replied. All he got in response was an irritated sigh. Yang has been by far the biggest annoyance since the recent incident, she had a tendency to ask questions he couldn't answer. Making him seem all the more suspicious

"We've looked everywhere, from the cities to the outskirts of the kingdom, she is nowhere to be found. I'm starting to believe she might have left Vale altogether, you must understand that this ordeal will take more time than any of us would like."

"Not if you let me find her."

"With all due respect, Miss Xiao-Long, but the chances of you finding her yourself are slim, and that is being generous."

No reply, just an unamused stare, at least it meant that she understood that he was right, there was no way she would find Ruby. Not even they, with all the Lien, resources and equipment could do it. What were her chances?

"I still want to try."

"I cannot let you do that, Miss X-"

"Why?!" She snapped before he could go on and say whatever useless piece of information he was going to say, she was used to all of this by now. "I signed up for a Huntsmen Academy, not a prison, I can leave when I want!"

"Safety protocols, Yang. I cannot let a student of mine chase after criminals."

"This is a Huntsmen Academy, I can protect myself!"

"Exactly, this is an Academy, and you are a student, which means you are yet to learn. Your safety is a concern of mine."

Again, no reply. He seized the opportunity and spoke out again. "Miss Xiao-Long, if I may ask... for what purpose do you intend to find Ruby?"

Previously Lilac eyes turned Red and narrowed, speaking of danger. "That is none of your business."

"That is true, but even if I do find her, I cannot let you have an audience with her without knowing the goals in your head. I may be Headmaster, Yang, but I am not above the law."

"You'll know what you want when you find her." She replied after a moment's thought, eyes slowly finding their way back to their previous and beautiful color. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and call my dad."

"Of course, good evening, Yang. And give my regards to your father."

...

"Alright, I admit, Purple does suit you pretty nicely."

"I know, right? It's so cool!" Ruby said, replying to Cinder as she kept twirling in front of the mirror, checking out her own new outfit.

Needless to say by how Ruby was acting, she liked the outcome of what she chose quite a lot.

Black boots reached up almost to her knees, styled with horizontally sewed Purple patches behind the very long laces, they were so long that they needed five knots that Ruby managed - after a lot of effort- to tie vertically over each other.

Above the boots were dark leggings covering all of her thighs. Purple leather padding covered her all the way from the waist and up to her shoulder, interlocked and delicately sewn together to form the shapes of squares in a stylish manner and topped with a layer of rough hide when it came to the shoulders, sides of her waist, and back. Her long sleeves were made from a different and softer material, although still durable, most likely some kind of linen.

The Collar was also unusually long, covering most of Ruby's neck if not folded carefully, a small bracelet decorated her wrist alongside her old necklace with the form of a Rose.

With one final twirl, Ruby nodded in approval, there was nothing she wanted to change, at least for now. Her gaze switched to Cinder, who was patiently waiting behind her, a slight smile decorating her face.

"What about you, Cinder?"

"What about me?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Won't you get a new outfit?"

"Something wrong with my dress?"

Ruby's eyes widened. Oh no, oh no no no. If there was one thing you can't insult, it was Cinder's sense of style. "O-of course not, I was just- eh..."

Cinder giggled, failing to contain her amusement. A few seconds passed before she finally answered Ruby, doing so with a knowing smile. "We're not getting matching outfits, Ruby."

"I- I never suggested that!"

"You were going to."

Fair enough but... "You can't prove it!"

"You sort of just did."

God damn everything.

...

Qrow Branwen was a simple man. That was, of course, excluding his magic abilities, his unnatural combat talent, his vast knowledge, and his incredible charm.

Alright, the last one is debatable.

Still, a simple man such as him valued his family very highly, and when he got the call from Ozpin telling him that his family might indeed be in danger, he found himself back home before he even knew it himself. It was also just in time to stop that brat from killing the maiden.

If only he could have stopped her second attempt as well...

He was naive, one like him should and could have defeated Ruby easily, yet a mixture of not wanting to hurt her and underestimating her prowess ultimately brought his downfall.

He couldn't help but feel irritated whenever he thought about it. Everything was in his hands, he could have stopped her, if only he had taken her more seriously.

Another stupid mistake to add to the list.

"No use thinking about it now..." He told himself as he made himself comfortable on the couch in the living room. One of the few good things that would eventually occur because of the recent events was that Ozpin let him take two months off of work, he was concerned at first, but Ozpin assured him that someone would take his place until he's back.

And although the two months were nearly over by now, they were very needed. He never knew just how much he could appreciate having a good rest. He also decided to spend his time with Tai, not only for the company, but just in case that brat came knocking, for one reason or another, you never knew with people like her. If they ever want anything to do with Yang, they would most likely make a move on Tai first, since unlike Yang, there were no dozens of huntsmen around him to protect him if need be.

Still, it was far from a happy reunion, Yang wasn't in a good place mentally, Tai did not know what to do, and he was never good with stuff like this.

Qrow's line of thoughts snapped when he heard the door to the house open, Tai walked in, back from wherever he was. Qrow opened his mouth to speak but wasn't fast enough as Tai made his way to the kitchen without a word. A few seconds later and he came back out.

Qrow said nothing as his old friend collapsed on the couch next to him, handing him a beer and cracking one open for himself.

"Something wrong?" Qrow managed to ask.

"Why would something have to be wrong for me to have a beer?"

"I mean, hey. Usually it's my responsibility to empty the fridge from beer, not yours. And you don't drink Sunday night, Tai." He cracked his own bottle open. "Tell me, what's up?"

Tai sighed before bringing the bottle up to his lips, taking a big swig before replying. "It's Yang. I was on the phone with her."

Qrow's eyes widened for a moment. It took him no time to reply. "Did something happen to her?"

"N-no. But she..." Tai brought the bottle to his lips once more.

"Spit it out already!" Qrow said.

"She... she wants to leave Beacon."

...

"I think Purple's my new favorite color," Ruby said, walking out of the hair salon with Cinder behind her.

"I still can't believe you spend two-thousand Lien on a haircut. I never took you for that type, Ruby." Cinder replied, still somewhat shocked. At least now she could speak. She was as motionless as a statue when she first heard the number.

"Actually..."

"Actually what?"

"So... they kinda had those amazing sweets inside, I was getting hungry and they just kept getting more and more delicious each time..."

 _Oh gods, please no_. _I literally left her for just an hour._ "Don't you dare tell me-"

"I spent one-thousand and nine-hundred Lien on sweets."

"How on Remnant do they even have such a big supply?!"

Ruby shrugged, Cinder sighed. "Are you at least happy with the haircut?"

Ruby nodded. "Yes!" A hand went up to gently caress the tip of her hair. She had the tips- which were originally Red- dyed Purple, it looked better than she had anticipated, especially since she had a drastically different haircut now.

Much shorter than its previous length, Ruby's hair was short, although not too much. The sides were cut short while the top was mid-length and swept to the side, ever so slightly covering a part of her eye. It looked particularly good thanks to the tips being Purple.

"It almost looks emo." Cinder stated.

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "Eww."

"Alright, gothic."

"Less eww but still eww..."

"Cool...?"

"You know what? I'll take that."

"You're such a child."

"A child you're hanging out with."

"Touché."

...

Salem's eyes flickered wide, waking up from her slumber. The night finally passed, Ruby and Cinder had managed to return home before it got too late, and although Ruby hated to bother Salem, she couldn't wait for the morning to show her mother her new look, and so she'd done it at night as soon as she came home.

Salem was almost proud of her own reaction, it wasn't half as bad as it could have been, seeing how she is considered to be a literal personification of evil by many who knew her. Instead, she was simply perplexed at first but never opposed the new... look.

That probably meant a lot to the young girl, and even more to her confidence in herself. That's how girls her age are most of the time. Salem knew so.

She had gone as far as to make sure that there would be no teasing from Watts's or Tyrian's end. Even a simple joke from one of them could spark doubt within Ruby's mind. And that was yet another thing that Salem did not know how she knew.

All she knew was that Ruby is to be protected.

Gods, when did her motherly instinct awaken again? It was so annoying, to care for someone enough to want to protect them, she had abandoned such emotions and thoughts long ago. It was far easier to only care about oneself.

That's what she had done for numerous years, after all.

Salem had messed up, she realized that long ago, she realized it the day Ruby came into her life. She knew she wanted the girl for more than her Silver Eyes.

And that terrified her.

Her emotions towards the young girl were drastically different than with anything else on Remnant. She was the one thing worth protecting. She was the one thing Salem couldn't dispose of.

She was Salem's one and only true weakness.

Such a dreadful word. Weakness. It was something Salem never associated herself with, she was invincible, she was immortal, she was all-powerful. She didn't and couldn't have a weakness.

But in the end, it would seem that there indeed was a weakness, and it was nothing other than an individual, it was Ruby herself.

It would be so easy to return to how things were before, Salem could get rid of Ruby in just a few seconds, and she wouldn't even have to physically hurt her, she would just have to send her away.

So easy, almost tempting.

But then, in the end, was this a weakness she wanted to get rid of? Was it one she was prepared to live without?

The answer came automatically. No, this was a weakness that Salem was more than willing to live with. This weakness was one of the very few things in the world that could make the Grimm Queen smile genuinely.

This weakness was beautiful.

Salem was not willing to part with her, with Ruby.

Ruby.

What was Ruby to her?

Was she a tool?

No.

Was she an ally?

No.

Was she just a weakness?

Never.

A knock on the door snapped Salem out of her thoughts. She had told Ruby to come and see her in the morning. "Come in." Said the Grimm Queen.

The door creaked open slowly, Ruby's face crept in first, slowly looking around, a bright smile formed on her lips as she spotted Salem. "Good morning, mom."

Was it that? Could it be that? And would it be bad if it was the case?

Did she still have the ability to be a mother?

Red eyes stared into heterochromatic ones. Why did she call Ruby here? "Good morning, child."

Who was Ruby to Salem?

"So, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes"

Yes, yes. She wanted to see her, and to spend time with her, and to look after her.

How incredibly annoying!

"Why?" Spoke the girl.

The young girl deserved an answer to that, even if she didn't know how complicated the question was in a mind like Salem's.

For once, the queen decided to simply speak the truth, whatever comes out is what they both deserve to know.

"I wanted to see you, Ruby. Because I wanted to. That is all, I would like to spend the morning with you."

T-that actually wasn't nearly as difficult to say as she thought it would be, it didn't feel entirely that bad, either! Especially when the smile on Ruby's face widened.

"I'll be waiting for you outside, then." Spoke the young girl.

"I shall be right outside."

Maybe having one weakness wasn't all that bad.

* * *

 **Lots of different points of view this chapter. I just automatically found myself writing this way for some reason. I think it turned out alright. There's also a good amount of humor mixed in with the serious shit, because those two always blend well together.**

 **I've only now realized that Ruby is more of a liability than anything else on Salem. It really was quite an experience writing Salem's POV.**

 **People probably now know the direction this story is being steered to, or at least for the next arc.**

 **I hope you've enjoyed the chapter, please review!**

 _ **Much Love! Stay Hopeful! ZilverHope Out!**_


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